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Figure 1 – The Brookhouse Home for Aged Women, Salem, MA, Memorial Day in the time of the COVID Isolation 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020
Today is Memorial Day in the United States, and we pause to remember the heroes of wars past and present. On this Memorial Day we also remember the heroes of our war against the COVID-19 virus. We honor and remember them and we rededicate ourselves to truth, reason, science, and democracy. Come November we will be in the fight of our generation.
The image of Figure 1 is of Brookhouse Home for Aged Women in Salem, Massachusetts. Brookhouse Home has stood on the corner of Derby and Orange streets, right next to the Custom House, since 1861, The Brookhouse has served as a haven for elderly women in need of housing and care for a century and a half. It was originally the property of Salem shipping tradesman Benjamin W. Crowninshield (1777-1811). It was purchased by Robert Brookhouse in 1854. Brookhouse, who eventually donated it to the Association for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Women in Salem.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
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