These paintings were done using a mouthstick by Pete Hurley, a Hopewell resident who contracted polio in 1952, and was paralyzed below his neck, losing the use of his arms and legs.
The community of Hopewell responded deeply, volunteering and raising money to help support the family – wife Betty and three young children – and then building a house for them that also included a store in front where they could sell cards and consignment goods.
To see these Hurley mouth paintings and learn more about this story, visit the Hopewell Museum Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 6 from 1 to 4 pm, at our temporary location, the “Saw Shed” at 43 Railroad Place (behind Morehouse Engineering, across from the Tomato Factory). That same afternoon, also visit the Holiday Open Houses at the Hopewell Public Library and Hopewell Old School Baptist Meetinghouse. Plus enjoy the Downtown Hopewell Holiday Passport Weekend.
== Read the full Pete Hurley Hopewell History Brief (PDF) ==
Pete Hurley
John Arthur (“Pete”) Hurley (1914-1977) was born and raised in a farm family in Montgomery Township. He graduated from Hopewell Central High School in 1933, where he played baseball and basketball, and enjoyed ice skating on Carnegie Lake in Princeton.
In 1942, Pete Hurley married Marion Elizabeth (“Betty”) Woolston of Hopewell (1922-2006), and in 1945, the family moved to 12 North Greenwood Avenue in Hopewell. By 1950 they had three daughters, and Pete was working as an auto mechanic at the Belle Mead Garage (now run by the third generation of the Higgins family, at 2454 Route 206).
Polio
However, on the Fourth of July weekend of 1952, Pete Hurley was feeling terrible. He had a terrific backache, a burning fever, and a general feeling of pain and weakness. He barely managed to make his way upstairs – and then his “legs refused to go.”
Pete had contracted poliomyelitis, the polio virus, and was paralyzed below his neck, losing the use of the muscles in his arms, legs and trunk, and becoming confined to a wheelchair.
He then spent a year in hospitals, including six months of treatment and training at the Warm Springs Foundation in Georgia, which provided a variety of customized assistive devices to help him write with a pen and use a typewriter, turn the pages of a book, drink from a glass, feed himself – and to paint.
The costs for his treatment were supported by the Mercer County Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes), which supported Pete’s medical expenses at home and at Warm Springs.
Community Support
During that first year, the Hopewell community rallied to support the Hurley family with food, gifts, and assistance.
During the holiday season, friends and neighbors sent the family anonymous Christmas cards with dollar bills enclosed.
The Hopewell ambulance squad also transported him to and from the hospital, and Rockwell Manufacturing Company provided a private plane to fly him to Georgia.
Building a House
Then in May 1953, a new charitable organization, Representatives United for Service, was formed in Hopewell to coordinate support for the Hurleys among existing charitable groups and the community. It eventually grew to include 20 local civic organizations, including the American Legion, Daughters of the American Revolution, Chamber of Commerce, Fire Department, Grange, Masons, Parent Teachers Association, Lions Club, Rockwell Manufacturing, and the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches.
In April 1954, Representatives United for Service announced several major commitments towards building the home for the Hurleys, including the donation of the building lot by the Rockwell Manufacturing Corp. and anonymous donations of materials and services.
In the spring of 1954, a new refreshment stand, “Pete’s Hut,” was built by the tenth tee at the Hopewell Valley Golf Club. Rockwell Manufacturing donated the materials and labor for the construction. This was operated by Pete and family for at least a decade, selling candy, soda, and cigarettes. The HVGC also held an annual Pete Hurley Harvest Tournament, with the proceeds going to Pete and his family.
Multiple other groups organized activities to aid the Pete Hurley Fund, including a Pennington Theater Club performance and a Teen-Agers Dance, both at the Hopewell Elementary School. The Ladies’ Committee of the Pete Hurley Building Fund scheduled monthly bake sales on the second Saturday through summer.
In November 1954, the Pete Hurley Fund had reached $8,000 of the $10,000 goal. To drive to the goal, the Ladies Committee scheduled Laddie MacCabe, “the inimitable Scots impresario,” to bring his Twelve Big Acts Variety Show featuring “an array of TV and stage artists” to the Elementary School Auditorium.
A New Home
Construction of the 18 Lafayette house for the Hurleys began in 1955, after the Fall 1954 groundbreaking. Family photos show evacuation of the property in 1954, followed in 1955 by laying the foundation blocks and then framing the house and closing in the exterior walls. However, progress was slowed “due to bad weather and other things,” the need for donated materials, and especially by the dependence on volunteer labor crews for the weekend-only work.
By the spring of 1956, the house was framed, with rough wiring and some plumbing, plus approximately half of the siding, three quarters of the rock lath, and two thirds of the roof shingles. Still to be done was the insulation, wall plastering, flooring, trim, and doors, plus fixtures and furniture including the kitchen sink and bath tub.
The Hurley family moved into their new Lafayette Street house in December 1956. As completed, after the many donations and volunteer labor, the house was valued at $20,000.
To help provide income for the family, the front room of the house was designed as a store so that the Hurleys could sell greeting cards and gifts and novelties. In 1960, at the suggestion of The Hopewell Women’s Club, the store became the Nearly New Shop, adding consignment used clothing and other goods to the existing card and gift shop.
Painting and Activities
Pete quickly took up painting with a mouthpiece device attached to a brush. He originally learned by using paint-by-number kits, and “after about three years he began to take painting seriously,” and moved on to doing oil paintings of local scenes based on reference photos. By 1963 he had completed some 30 pictures, and had sold some of his work.
Because Pete still retained motion in his neck, he could, for example, drink from a straw in a cup attached to his torso, and speak through a telephone. His wheelchair devices included a balanced arm support so that he apparently could swing his arm with slight neck and shoulder motions to feed himself.
Family and friends were able to travel together with Pete, including trips to the shore, to the mountains in New Jersey and beyond. In 1960, for example, Pete and Betty took a week’s vacation with relatives in Pittsfield, Maine.
Endings
Through at least the 1960s and into the 1970s, Betty Hurley was appointed the Hopewell Borough license clerk, handling marriage licenses, dog licenses, and hunting and fishing licenses, operating out of the house.
Locals also report that during some of this period Betty Hurley worked at Louie Gerhard’s Eagle Bakery, on Mercer Street at the corner of West Broad (and later the pizza store). The Eagle Bakery operated at that location from the 1930s to 1970.
Pete Hurley died in December 1977 at age 63. Betty moved out of the Lafayette Street house in September 1978, and the house was sold by the Representatives United for Service. The exterior remains substantially similar into the current day.
== Read the full Pete Hurley Hopewell History Brief (PDF) ==
Photos and paintings, plus helpful information, kindly shared by the Hurley family: Peter Hurley Gantz, Cindy Healey, and Andy West.
Please contact us if you have (or know of) additional materials or information related to the story of Pete Hurley and family.
Wonderful job! Thank you for doing this and sharing the story!