Dr. John Batty was honored by fellow McCook Rotary members for his 94th birthday today. (Shary Skiles, McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

The McCook Rotary Club honored Dr. John Batty with birthday cake and special recognition at its Tuesday noon meeting at Country Kitchen, a day before his actual birthday.

The club will further honor Dr. Batty by serving "Dr. Batty Breakfast Burritos" during Heritage Days from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, in front of the Fox Theater on Norris Avenue.

Proceeds from the sale of the burritos will go toward Rotary's PolioPlus Fund.

Since 1985, Rotary has been working with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, to rid the world of the crippling disease that held the nation ransom in the 1950s and 1960s.

Batty remembers the polio epidemic in McCook in 1952-53. The viral disease attacks certain cells in the central nervous system. Children were hit hard by the disease, and many ended up in braces or wheel chairs.

If the disease attacked the respiratory system, the patient could end up in an "iron lung," an early tank-like respirator.

It could be fatal. With a soft expression and deep caring in his voice, Dr. Batty recalls losing a young girl from Marion, Neb to polio. She was three or four years old.

Vaccinations for the disease were given at the McCook City Auditorium. Batty recalls that the lines stretched to the street with people waiting to receive their vaccination.

While the disease has been controlled in the United States through vaccinations, it still strikes children mainly under the age of five in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

There is no cure for the disease, which can cause paralysis within hours.

Because Batty has such a keen memory for the devastation and fear that polio imparted on the community and nation in the 1950s, he continues to dream of a polio-free world.

Programs such as Rotary International's PolioPlus Fund are striving to make that dream a reality.

When he first became involved with Rotary 60 years ago, the club met in the basement of the Keystone Hotel and had more than 50 regular attendees.

Batty, who served as the club president in the 1940s, recalls that one of the hardest Rotary projects he was involved with was the pouring of concrete for tennis courts on East Third Street.

He also has fond memories of a hunting trip he took with some fellow Rotarians including Ben Hormel, Merv Breland, and Dr. Gage.

Everyone got their deer, but killing the animal made the gentle Dr. Batty sad.

He never went deer hunting again.