Subject: Chapter Twenty – Did you have any serious accidents…

Did you have any serious accidents as a child?

by Jim Stamp on March 28, 2022.

I think it was the last day of school for the 1957 school year or close 
to it. Dad was commuting to Pittsburgh for work so it was up to me, 
with the help of Lee and Jay, to milk the cows inthe morning and evening, 
to make sure the pigs had feed and water, to make sure the chickens also 

had feed and water. After milking the cows and before going in to have 

supper, I decided to take Beauty for a ride. Beauty was a great mother 

but she only had one colt – Cricket. Whenever one of the other ponies would 

have a colt, Beauty would try toget the colt to the barn away from the mother. 

I don’t know if that was colt-napping or not. But, Beauty desparately

wanted another colt. We had just had another colt so, in an effort

to distract her, I got the bridle and off we went. Our farm was on the 

east side and the westside of Whinnery Rd. I took Beauty across the

road to ride in the hay field on the west side.

When we turned to return to the barn she took off with that goal in mind!

Get to the barn.As we approached the road I pulled on the reins but

Beauty was not going to be stopped.

I was able to pull her head around by pulling on just one rein.
May 23, 1957 we got to Whinnery Road at the same time as a
speeding car heading north. In front of our house there was a
rock garden.. I landed somewhere in the yard, probably 25 feet
from the impact.

I was taken to the Central Clinic in Salem by Mom and my
brothers and my sister. I was unconscious, but somehow they got
me into the station wagon. I remained in a coma at Central Clinic
for 4 days before being transferred to North Side Hospital in
Youngstown. I remained in a coma for a few more days. I had a
fracturedskull, multiple concussions, tortion of the brain stem,
lacerations, and my left eye was almost 90 degrees off. I had to
wear an eye patch for a couple months to train my eye to come
back, but, I had double vision for the next 58 years. The
veterinarian was able to stitch Beauty together with wire. If she
hadn’t turned herhead, she would probably have had a broken
neck. When I was released from the hospitalthe first thing I
wanted to do was be pushed in a wheelchair out to the barn to see my Beauty.

May 27, 1957

June 8, 1957

I waited a couple years before I had to be taken back to the
hospital. Once again, I ended up at North Side in Youngstown.
On the day of my Grandpa and Grandma Stamp’s 40th
anniversary I broke my knee. My knee swelled so much I
couldn’t stand to have anything touching my leg. I went to
the anniversary party (at their house) and spent the entire
evening on the couch. The following morning, we made the
trip to the hospital. They inserted a HUGE needle in my knee
to drain off the fluid and reduse the swelling. Then, they put
a cast on my leg from ankle to midthigh. I learned to get really good on crutches.