The Bird Sisters

The Bird Sisters

The four well known, notorious, Bird sisters were killed in the Alice Disaster. The sisters were meeting for a reunion when the Alice Disaster cut short their lives. The sisters, Paula Dee Bird Wocycowski, Rosamund Bird Van Meadows, June Marie Bird, and Elizabeth Bird Pattista were born between 1910 and 1920 in Alice. They met for a reunion every year at the house they were raised in.

The sisters were raised in Alice in an idyllic setting. They were the only children of John Billie and Rose Bird. The four had other siblings but none survived past infancy. Their father had all four girls educated by tutors. They had an unusual education that included math, literature and science as well as the more traditional feminine subjects. All four loved to read and to dance.

The four were well known within Darren. They held quite a bit of political power, due to their social connections, and contributions to various causes and campaigns. All four had jobs, unusual at the time for wealthy women. Wocycowski was a medical doctor, Van Meadows was a teacher, Bird was a physical therapist and Pattista was a caregiver of the elderly.

While they held a variety of careers, all four Bird sisters were committed to women’s reproductive rights. They were the forerunners of the Alice Disaster Quilting society This was due to their mother dying during the birth of her 8th child. The doctors said her body could not handle the stress of so many births. All four sisters vowed to make sure this did not happen to other women.

Paula did the bulk of her work, with her husband through the Catholic Church. She and her husband Philip Wocycowski ran most of the pre-cana classes given to all couples being married in the church. Unbeknowst to the Catholic church, they always included detailed information about family planning (contraception) in their classes. When the local Monsignor of the Catholic church found out what they were doing he stripped them of their pre Cana teaching rights. Much to the chagrin of the Monsigner Tanley 95% of the couples, who married in the Catholic church, continued to take Wocycowski classes, even though they also had to take the official pre-cana classes. Many other couples made the decision to move to different churches, once the Wocycowski’s classes were discontinued.

Paula was a type 1 diabetic and one of the first Darren patients to ever receive insulin. She would have survived the Alice Disaster if insulin had been available to her. She was caught under a fallen beam. Since all three of her sisters were incapacitated, they were unable to help her or bring her insulin, when she needed it. Her husband and daughter Christina Wocycowski Oxa were not in Alice and survived for many years after Paula died.

Rosamund Bird Van Meadows was known for her innovative teaching techniques. She was a history teacher and headmistress and taught both Darren, U.S and Canadian history classes. Her school, Birdland, was one of the only co-ed comprehensive high schools in Darren. She was the first teacher who taught history from all 3 perspectives. The history texts Van Meadows co-authored became the standard texts used in Darren schools for many years.

Van Meadows also included detailed information in on contraceptive in her curriculum. Occasionally parents removed their children from her school for this, however Birdland was so prestigious, few parents resorted to this. Van Meadows husband and two sons survived her.

June Marie Bird Priest was one of the first physical therapist in Darren. She worked closely with victims of WWI to rehabilitate them after injuries received in the war. She developed several innovative techniques to help amputees and victims of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She was one of the first caregivers to recognize PTSD, although the name was not used until much later.

Priest also gave contraceptive advice to all her patients. She did this on her own time and using her own funds. She never took any patients who weren’t amenable to receiving this advice. Since she was one of the foremost physical therapists in the country she was rarely lost any patients.

Priest came up with the idea for the Le grève du sexe She left detailed notes about which political issues were most important and why. She also left $1,000,000 in a fund meant to help with the Le grève du sexe Pastor Wilhemena Baxter has relied heavily on these notes and funds to make the strikes a success.

Priest was one of the first Wiccan’s in Darren. She was known to ask the ‘Goddess’ to help her when she was dealing with especially difficult patients or when arguing with one of her sisters. Another of her favorite sayings was from her father: ‘It’ll never be noticed on a galloping horse and that’s the only kind I ride’. She used this saying every time she did needlework.

Priest was survived by her longtime lover John Morning and her three children.

The youngest sister, Elizabeth Bird Pattista, ran many social events. Her trademark style included combining gold and silver jewelry. She held many salons in her home for influential and interesting people. Invitations to these salons were highly coveted. She was instrumental in helping her sisters fund some of their pet projects. She was also an advocate for the elderly.

She set up old age homes for indigent people. She enlisted a granny brigade to continue the work her sisters were doing in enlightening the young women of Darren of the use of contraceptives. This brigade was very effective in overcoming the unpopularity of contraceptive use in Darren. Her sister June Marie was active in this effort also.  Pattista also funded contraceptive research. Bird condoms are the most popular condoms in Darren even today. This could be because they are distributed throughout Darren at no cost. Grandmothers are given a supply, whenever they request them. . Two children survived Pattista

The Bird Sisters and the Prince of Darren

In 1935, The Prince of Darren at the time, Sigmund Gringle tried to stop Van Meadows from teaching all three (Darren, Canadian and U.S.) history perspectives. Since she was the headmistress of her own school, Birdland, Gringle was unsuccessful. Van Meadows felt Gringle was a prig and worked diligently to make sure he was not reelected. She enlisted her sister Elizabeth to assist in this. Elizabeth excluded Gringle and his wife from many of the top social events and this curtailed his fundraising efforts. He was not reelected and all future Prince of Darren’s have been careful not to upset the Bird sisters or their children. Gringle was further humiliated when his wife left him (rumor has it) for one of the Bird sisters.