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Ellen Herman could have been a professional
model, but instead she chose a career
helping youngsters regain the use of their crippled limbs
Ellen berman grew upina large, closely knit family full of laughter and love.
Life for her has always been comfortable. She is engaged to a handsome
medical student and could easily settle down to a contented life dedicated solely
to homemaking. She is also pretty enough to be a model in fact, she has been
one. But Ellen is no average American girL To her, "living happily ever after"
means being part of a profession she has had her heart set on ever since she can
remember: physical therapy.
Back home in Madison, Wis., Ellen turned to modeling to help pay her college
expenses, but when professional offers came her way, she declined. "Modeling
was never for me," she says. "As a model, you can never fool yourself into think
ing you are really helping anyone."
At 21, this rare young woman has fulfilled her goal. She is on the staff of
Boston's famed Children's Medical Center, where she gives hope to the disabled.
With the aid of the National Foundation, which handles the largest scholarship
program for physical therapists in the country, she was able to complete the
training she needed. And from the beginning it was apparent to her instructors
that she possessed a unique gift for working with handicapped children.
She says simply: "You can help a child because he is seldom defeated. Maybe
it's because a child doesn't realize what illness and disability may mean in the
future. Children want to do everything, and they never stop trying. The first
time you see a child overcome a disability, you know that being a physical thera
pist is a wonderful thing. In a sense, it's like being a teacher, opening the doors,
training others to take part in life again."
Does she ever regret the glamorous life she might have had as a model? "Not
me! I wouldn't turn in this uniform for anything Dior ever designed."
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Polio victim Lynn Esperance has her leg
sling adjusted by Ellen as part of post
operative physical-therapy treatment.
Before going out for an evening date, Ellen
pauses for a chat about her day's work with
her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Herman.
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With Ellen's help, eight-year-old Billy
-Weibrecht learns to walk on parallel bars.
During vacation, Ellen plays golf with fiance
John Stephenson, a Boston medical student.
Family Weekly. January 24, 1960
17