Childhood Memories of Medfield State Hospital

Harry Gardiner wrote about his experience visiting Medfield State Hospital where his father was a psychiatrist.

I first lived at the hospital when I was 2-3 years old (1940-1941), when my father, Dr. Harry M. Gardiner, left to enter the service in World War II and we lived in Ayer, MA. He moved our family back to the MSH in 1946, when I was 8, and we lived there until he passed away in 1951.

My best friends at the hospital were David and Darel Nowers (known to those who couldn’t tell them apart as “the twins”), whose father was the head farmer. They both grew up to become head farmers at two other state hospitals in MA. At this time there were over 2,000 patients and about 500 staff at the hospital. We were never afraid of the patients and didn’t question their often very unusual behavior. That’s just the way it was.

Click the link below to read the rest of Harry Gardiner’s story.

Gardiner would very much like to touch base with anyone who might know him from his time at the State Hospital, people like Peter Stagg, Janet Mezzanotte, Tom Sweeney, and others.

Original article