Mrs Marvin Fingar stands just 4 feet, 10 inches, but she weighed 218 pounds when she checked into Memorial Hospital in Albany a week ago. Her aim: To lose 100 pounds.
On a diet of tea and about three pints of dietetic soft drink a day, the 34 year old mother from West Ghent, Columbia County, dropped 7½ pounds in the first week. 'I have a large, young family. I want to live to see my children grow up,' Mrs. Fingar explained to a reporter. If I waited another five years, it might be too late.'
Mrs. Fingar has four children of her own and three stepchildren. Her physician said Mrs. Fingar 'has a serious health problem, aggravated by extreme obesity.' The diet, he emphasizes, is one of 'limited application, used only as a last ditch act of desperation.'
Her husband, who drives a cement tank truck, approved the project. Mrs. Fingar describes herself as a compulsive eater when nervous or under pressure. The old picture of fat people as jolly is a lot of nonsense. In her opinion 'I don't think there is a happy fat person on the face of the earth,' she says. 'If you aren't happy with yourself, how can you be happy with your surroundings? 'I'm aiming for the happy medium. I want the world to keep spinning - and I want to go with it.' -
The Times Record June 10, 1963