Born: May 31, 1884
Died: January 12, 1937
Married: Edward "Ted" Comstock
Children: Edward "Ed" Comstock, Jr., Elizabeth "Betty" Comstock Mooney
Mary Elizabeth "Bess" Comstock (nee Baker) was a tuberculosis patient who came to Saranac Lake to cure just before or in 1920. She had recently given birth to a daughter, also named Elizabeth ("Betty"). She was married to Edward "Ted" Comstock of Rome, NY. After a lingering cough gave way to a hemorrhage, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to Saranac Lake under the care of Dr. Lawrason Brown. She primarily stayed at the Santanoni Apartments, but the family also occasionally rented a house on Park Avenue. On one such occasion, she moved to Park Avenue to stay with her son Edward, who had contracted Pleurisy at age 14.
At the Santanoni, Bess was friends with Mrs. Louis Diat, the chef at the Ritz, among others. Bess spent a long time on bed rest at the advice of Dr. Brown, but was eventually well enough to go down for meals and have excursions with fellow patients and her family. She kept extensive diaries documenting her medical condition. After about seven years in Saranac Lake and at least one relapse, she returned home to Rome. The family home was outfitted with sleeping porches for her and Ed. She lived in a semi-arrested case of TB for about ten more years. Bess returned to Saranac Lake not long before her death for a pneumothorax procedure; it may not have provided her much benefit.
In 1979, her daughter Elizabeth published In the Shadow of the White Plague, a memoir recounting growing up on the fringes of her mother's seventeen-year battle with tuberculosis. The book details the course of her mother's health, as well as documenting life for patients in Saranac Lake through the late 1920s.
Rome Sentinel, January 14, 1937
Death of Mrs. Edward H. Comstock, wife of the president of the Edward Comstock Company, Inc. occurred last night at her home, 108 Maple Street, after a lingering illness.
Mrs. Comstock was prominently identified with local charitable work, and throughout her long illness had maintained interest in literary and artistic matters.
Elizabeth Baker was born in Rome May 31, 1884, daughter of the late John S. and Elizabeth Badgley Baker. Mr. Baker was a prominent Central New York attorney.
She was graduated by Rome Free Academy in 1900 and attended Mrs. Hartman's School in New York City. On December 28, 1912, she became the bride of Mr. Comstock.
Mrs. Comstock was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of the Spruce Twig.
Surviving besides her husband are two children, Edward Comstock and Miss Elizabeth H. Comstock, a brother, John S. Baker, and a nephew, William Baker, all of this city.
