So, I got curious about this whole “Grace Fryer” thing. Let me tell you, it’s a wild ride. I started digging into it, just to see what it was all about.
Who is Grace Fryer
I started by trying to figure out who this Grace Fryer person was. Turns out, she was born way back in 1899, in Orange, New Jersey. Can you imagine? One of eleven kids, too! Anyway, she got a job at this place called the United States Radium Corporation. This was in 1917, right when the US joined World War I. Grace, being all patriotic with two brothers in the army, wanted to do her part.
Grace Fryer’s Job
So, what was her job? She became a dial painter. They used this glow-in-the-dark paint made with radium to paint watch faces. Sounds cool, right? Well, not so much. She painted watch faces there, using this radium stuff.
The Problem with Radium
Here’s where things get messy. See, nobody really knew back then how dangerous radium was. Fast forward to 1922, Grace, now 23, started having some serious health issues. Her jaw got all sore, and get this, her teeth started falling out. That’s way too young for that to be happening! Then I learned she wasn’t the only one. There were others, Quinta McDonald, Albina Larice, Edna Hussman, and Katherine Schaub – all with similar problems. Turns out, they were all suffering from radium poisoning. Yeah, that paint they were using was, well, poisonous.
Taking Action
Grace, being a tough cookie, decided to do something about it. She and four other women, who became known as the “Radium Girls”, sued the company. It was a whole big thing.
What I Learned
This whole deep dive into Grace Fryer’s story got me thinking. It’s a mix of sad, inspiring, and a little bit scary, to be honest. I kept digging, reading more, and piecing together her life. From what I gather, she went from being this young, hopeful woman to someone dealing with a pretty awful situation, and she fought back.
So yeah, that’s the gist of what I found out about Grace Fryer. This whole thing really makes you think, right?
