Sandra Dahlke Named “Miss Polio”

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Sandra Dahlke named, “Miss Polio”
Shawano High School – Class of 1956

The former Shawano High School on Union Street, now the middle school, was completed for the 1955-56 school year. It’s the 70th anniversary of this important building so we were researching information for a upcoming post and came across information in a year book. The class of 1956 was the first class to graduate in the new Shawano High School on Union Street and in their year book is a dedication to Sandra Dahlke, who was named, “Miss Polio.”

We don’t think of it now, but before the Salk Vaccine, children and adults could become infected with Polio and the severity and recovery not immediately known.

In Sandra’s case, she was paralyzed from the neck down and spent months in an iron lung. We can’t imagine what this was like for Sandra, her family, or her graduating class.

We are wondering what happened to Sandra and hope she recovered.