Gail Saunders

Gail Saunders
Sex	F
Birth date	1950
Mother	Irene Saunders

Gail Saunders was a five year old Spearfish Lake resident who contracted polio in August 1955. She was treated at Sanford Memorial Hospital with artificial respiration until a "cob job" of a wooden lung was made by Brent Clark from an idea by nine year old Ryan Clark. The first version of this wooden lung required manual cycling of a flap to provide a breathing cycle, operated for a number of hours by Garth Matson.^FK16 A refinement by Ryan Clark using his Erector set automated the flap cycle.^FK17 Gail spent over a month in this respirator before she could breathe by herself.^FK21

She never totally recovered and could only walk with crutches or other support.^FK21

She graduated high school as valedictorian and Garth Matson paid for her to go to college. She returned to Spearfish Lake to teach at the high school until post-polio syndrome forced her to give up in her fifties. Her replacement was Nicole Szczerowski.^{FK21 DW64}

Gail married Jerry Gleason^FK21 and they had two children, Marcy and John, and three grandchildren in middle or high school in 2015.^FK1