Martha Mason’s memoirs to be read at WFU

Wake Forest University Provost Emeritus Ed Wilson and Assistant Professor of Communication Mary Dalton will read from Martha Mason’s new book, “Breath: Life in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung,” on April 8. Readings will be held at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the first-floor main lounge of Reynolda Hall at Wake Forest. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will follow the reading.

Mason, a resident of Lattimore in Cleveland County, transferred to Wake Forest from another college in 1958. She arrived on campus encased in an 800-pound iron lung, where she has spent most of her hours from age 11. After her 1960 graduation as first in the first class to graduate from the university’s Winston-Salem campus, Mason returned to her home in Lattimore, where she still resides today.

Mason wrote her memoir from her iron lung using a voice-activated computer.

In “Breath,” Mason writes the compelling story of her idyllic childhood, the year she spent on hospital polio wards, her days at Wake Forest and her life as an adult. The book will be available for purchase at the event.

For more information, call 336-758-6120.

Categories: Alumni, Events, Speakers