Circumstances of my birth: The year was 1953. I was a baby boomer baby. My father had not returned from WWII, however. He had a physical impediment which kept him from serving active duty. One of his legs was shorter than the other, due to a disease he had as a boy. I know that during WWII, he tested some kind of explosives at Purdue, where he was a grad student and new professor. I have photos of him doing this and I know it affected his hearing the rest of his life. My grandpa on my mother’s side served in WWI overseas and wrote a story about it, “21 Days Behind German Lines,” a story I hope to publish. My Grandpa Agnew I know almost nothing about, so I do not know if he served or not, and why or why not. In any case, there is not the military history in my lineage like there is in some families. Neither of my brothers served, and I don’t remember hearing about many uncles or cousins in the service. My uncle who was married to my father’s sister did serve in WWII, but no others I can think of. I think this gives me a particular distance toward active military service. It is not anti-military at all. It is just an absence of needing that experience, in order to fulfill one’s life. One can be pro-American without being pro-military.
So back to the circumstances of my birth. My father was a new professor at Purdue University. So I have been a Boilermaker since I was in utero. I can’t hardly say those words without adding, “Boiler Up!” I know the words to the Purdue fight song and sang them at my graduation. It’s in the blood. (“Hail, hail to old Purdue, all hail to the old gold and black . . .”)
My older brother was 8 years old when I was born, with no one in between us. Eight years later, my younger brother would be born, so I am smack in the middle of the 2 boys. There was a younger sister born 2 years after me, so it was the 2 girls always in the middle of the 2 extremes (2 brothers who were completely different in personality and hardly knew each other). My parents had tried for a few years to get pregnant for me, so they were jubilant when it did happen. And then I was a girl, so I was always very well received and wanted very much. My favorite picture of my mother and I is the one above. She looks so joyful, and satisfied with me, which was a rare occasion in our relationship as 2 adults.
I was born at 1:10 in the afternoon, weighing 6 lbs, 6 oz. My mother had spent 4 previous days in the hospital, not because anything was wrong, but because her water broke. They finally induced labor. I was born without my mother being knocked out with drugs. This was a new experience for her. She always said, “I knew the MOMENT you were born!” –as if that was a rare thing. She spent something like a week in the hospital after my birth. My mother never breastfed, so it was all bottles from the start. I had 3 grandparents living in town, both my mother’s parents, and my father’s mother.
I then spent 5 happy years at 1704 Summit Drive, and I do have memories of this place, a small brick house with a swingset in the backyard. It was a new neighborhood, with trees and houses being built across the street. My father and mother were intent on building his new career and status. My mother never worked outside the home until after his untimely death at age 50.
In 1953, there were no calculators, cell phones, Internet, home computers, or remote controls. Color tv was a new thing. Cartoons appeared on Sat. mornings only. There were 3 channels: ABC, NBC, and CBS. From what I remember, there was also “Channel 4, Indianapolis”. Children spent a great deal of time outside, running, skipping, jumping rope, riding bikes. We would even take our dolls outside to set them up in the yard and play “house”. We colored old refrigerator boxes and made them into a “fort”.
Eisenhower was President, WWII had ended, Rosie the riveter was returning to the kitchen, people were afraid of communism. My parents had been married 11 years, and were ages 35 and 31 when I was born, 56 years ago today. I have now outlived my father by 6 years, in age. My mother lived to nearly age 85, passing away in June 2007. My older brother passed away in April 2009, and I was able to be with him in his last week. My sister and brother still living no longer speak to one another, and my sister recently broke off contact with me on facebook. And so it goes . . .
Doctor Grandma 
Leave a comment