Benjamin Franklin Mollenhour was
born on October 25, 1889, in Mentone, Indiana. In 1917, at the age of
twenty-seven, my great-grandfather joined the United States Army. He flew to
France to fight in World War One and he returned home in 1919 where he met and
married Lulu Link. The two married and had four kids when he came down with
severe tuberculosis. Having fought in the War, he was a victim of mustard gas
which was a contributing cause to worsen and speed up the effects of
tuberculosis. He needed treatment so he was sent to Fort Lyon Sanatorium in
Colorado in an attempt to be healed. There, he and his wife and kids would
correspond via letters and through his hopeful beginning until the end into his
known demise, their story is told through thirteen surviving letters. He spent
the latter part of 1929 and nearly half of 1930 in the hospital until Benjamin
returned home, beyond healing, and passed away soon after. Through the letters
and this memoir, the family’s pain, sadness and heartache is told with a mom
raising four young children by herself through the time of the Great
Depression. Look soon for his memoir, Letters from Fort Lyon Sanatorium,
1929-1930, with release dates coming in the near future.
**UPDATE** The book has been released on available on Amazon and other online retailers. Please check it out!
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Fort-Lyon-Sanatorium-1929-1930/dp/0982643632/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2SXSY96ZL0RM2&keywords=benjamin+mollenhour&qid=1651216407&sprefix=benjamin+mollenhou%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-2
