History for Chron

Bedridden for 15 years at Sacred Heart Hospital, Mrs. Jean Crocker said she has room in her busy schedule for friends but not sympathy.

“Not a day goes by that I do not see someone less fortunate than I,” Crocker said.

Crocker can move her head, hands and eyes and remained busy knitting a skirt for one of her nurses as she spoke.

“There are so many demands on my time, the days are seldom long enough,” Crocker said.

She spends hours writing letters to the young friends in the military that Crocker befriended by sending letters during the war.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no such thing as sympathy,” Crocker said. “Friendship and sympathy have no place together. Friendships have been the greatest part of my life but I don’t think they could have been possible if they had been motivated by sympathy.”