Speaking with reverence about how rampant and devastating the disease once was, local grandfather Raymond Murphy reportedly appeared to be proud Monday of how many people were killed by polio during his childhood. You probably dont know much about it because now we have the vaccine, but back in my day, polio was a real big deal, said Murphy, reportedly relishing the knowledge that, in 1952 alone, tens of thousands of Americans contracted the spinal cord infection and over 3,000 died from it. My mother was scared to death one of us might get it. There was a kid at my grammar school who had to wear leg braces because of polio. Not even the president of the United States was safe from it. At press time, Murphy became sentimental while explaining to his grandson about the pain and discomfort of being confined to an iron lung. 