When an ice storm knocked out power more than 30 years ago, he brewed a pot of coffee and sat beside her, cranking the huge machine with his hands and feet as he waited for the National Guard to bring out a diesel generator.
Freeman Odell, who worked for a telephone company, also installed an intercom system connecting the Jackson Central-Merry High School to the Odell home, so Dianne could listen to classes from her bedroom. She took classes from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., but health problems forced her to quit before she could earn a degree. The university eventually awarded her an honorary degree.
Using a voice-activated computer, she wrote a children's book about a tiny star that wanted to be a wishing star. She even helped out with local political campaigns, making phone calls for state senators.
Polio has been virtually eradicated in America. There were only 1,313 cases worldwide last year, according to the World Health Organization.
Iron lungs are no longer manufactured. In the 1950s, the machines were replaced by devices such as positive-pressure airway ventilators that allowed patients to be more mobile. But Odell's spinal deformity meant she could not wear them.
"Dianne spent more than 50 years inside an iron lung -- her entire world was the iron lung -- but she adapted," said Frank McMeen, president of West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation, which organized a fund for the Odell family. "She tutored children. She spoke at the Rotary club. You have a very remarkable person who managed to do all the things we do in our lives."
In recent years, Odell suffered a series of mini-strokes. With her parents' health also declining -- Freeman has dementia and Geneva has Alzheimer's disease -- her sisters, Donna and Mary Beth, took care of her, assisted by friends, neighbors and church members.
More than a thousand people, including former Vice President Al Gore and actor David Keith, attended a 2001 gala to raise money for Odell.
"To let her go is very hard," Beyer said. "Dianne was always a fighter. No matter what anyone said, you couldn't count her out."
"She liked to quote that John Denver song, 'Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Stone,' " Beyer said. "What got her through it all was her faith, her family and her friends."
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jenny.jarvie@latimes.com
