Severe Down Syndrome in the 1950s: An Older Sister’s Perspective

By Kathy Buie Vance

My little brother Jon-Jon was born when I was five and a half and my sister Ann was four. After nine months, worrying because he wasn’t developing as we had, Mother and Daddy took him to Duke Medical Center.  He was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.  This was 1950, and there wasn’t much that could be done. 

Mother’s health deteriorated as …