Off the Wall: How One Clumsy Wife Helped Heal the World
The Accidental Unsung Tennessee Genius Behind Band-Aids
They say necessity is the mother of invention, but in this case, it was the wife of invention—specifically, one who couldn’t cook a meal without adding a minor injury to the menu. And that’s how we got Band-Aids: not from a lab, not from a think tank, but from one deeply devoted husband who just wanted to keep his wife from bleeding all over dinner.
Earle and Josephine Dickson (of Grandview, Tennessee) were your classic early 20th-century couple: she brought the energy, he brought the gauze. Married bliss was occasionally interrupted by the sight of blood—usually Josephine’s—thanks to a kitchen skill set that emphasized enthusiasm over safety. While Josephine had a flair for slicing vegetables (and occasionally herself), Earle was the methodical type who preferred problems with cleaner outcomes.
Earle worked as a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson. So while he wasn’t exactly a battlefield medic, he had access to medical supplies—and, more importantly, a motivation stronger than corporate ambition: spousal preservation.
Let’s travel back to the 1920s, when treating a paper cut involved unrolling gauze, snipping surgical tape, and whispering prayers that you didn’t glue yourself shut in the process. Pre-cut bandages weren’t a thing. Wound care was a DIY disaster. If you were bleeding, you basically had two options: perform minor surgery on yourself or bleed stylishly into your apron.
And if you needed to bandage something by yourself? Good luck. Unless your injury was conveniently located on your…