To a New Town #12

We moved back into town, it was another upstairs apartment. It was September 24th., 1962 and we were getting ready to celebrate Doug's second birthday. My mom wanted to give the party to help us out, she has really changed since she could not drink, but her cancer was not getting better. Doug received a lot of nice presents, mom got him a tricycle, it was blue and white.

The kitchen door lead to the roof, it was flat, with a fence around it, high enough so Doug could not climb over, besides Doug was not a climber, it also had a gate to lock. My husband brought up sand for Doug to run his little cars in, the only time he could not play on the roof was in the morning, the sun made it too hot. Wayne had four sisters and a brother, boy did they love to play poker and cribbage, we spent lots of time visiting them, in those days we did not have a lot to spend., but we had a lot of fun.

It was June 10th, 1963. time for Ronald to be born, I got to the hospital at nine thirty and he was born four hours later. What a sweet baby, he had just fuzzy blond hair and blue eyes, just like his brother Doug. His blood and mine were not compatible, the doctor was going to order a blood transfusion at first but changed his mind. This kept us in the hospital one more day. Doug was glad we were home, he didn't pay much attention to Ron at first, he gave him a hug and a kiss on the head. My mom was so loving toward the kids but Wayne s mom was on the cold side, she hardly held the boy's at all. I was guessing she still held a grudge because her son did not go back to Jolene and the kids.

Wayne finally got a good job, it was with Railway Express, I don't know if you will remember this company. This company unloaded all their goods off the train and delivered it just like UPS does today, the only thing I don't believe UPS delivers the heavy things Railway Express did, for instance bath tubs, pool tables and etc., I believe UPS only delivers up to fifty pounds. They went out of business at the end of the 1960's, and that ended Wayne s job.

My husband went back to college, to learn illustrating, he went to school in the mornings and worked at the gas company in the afternoons. We had purchased a home in town, life was getting better for us. The kids were growing like weeds. Doug was five and the doctor said he was old enough to start ear surgery. One thing I didn't know was peoples ears stop growing at the age of five years, any way that is what the plastic surgeon told us. They could not at this time build him a ear , but they did a very good job, it took a little over a year to complete.

One thing happened while we were going to the hospital, we left early because we had to go about thirty five miles to another city. The museum was right by the hospital, so I thought Doug would like to go in and look around. They were having pioneer day's, and making lots of different homade items, like clothes, shoes, soap and etc. Before I could stop Doug he ran his finger across the lye soap and tasted it, I took him by the hand and told him what ever he did do not swollow, just keep spitting. We ran to a drinking fountain , turned it on and ran the water in his mout, all the time telling him not to swollow. I ask him when it was over why he did that, he said he thought it was a big cake with frosting. By the time we got to the hospital his tongue was bleeding a little, the doctor said it was a good thing I did what I did, the lye could of eat a little of his tongue, kids!

We lived on Glade Street for six years, when Wayne graduated from college he started looking for a job, he gratulated with a 4.o average, I was so proud of him. Some of the happenings on Glade Srreet were as follows. In 1968 Wayne had melanoma cancer on his face, and thank goodness they removed it all. 1969 we vacationed in the Upper Pensula of Michigan at Cooper Harbor, what a beautiful place that was. 1970 Wayne gratulated from college, he was one of the top students, he always felt odd because he was in his late thirties. 1971 we put our house up for sale, we moved in here in February, 1966 and now it is 1972, time to go, the kid's both started school from here.

One note about the grandparents, this was such a sad time for us. Wayne's dad had his last heart attack and passed away in 1963, he must had at least seven real bad attacks before he went, they had to tie his hands to his bed he was thrashing so. 1964, Waynes mom had a stroke at work, they put her on life support, she lasted three days and they removed it, she only lived for a few minutes. September 1965, my mom had cancer and was going back for one more surgery, blood clots developed and went into the lungs, the doctors could not save her. 1966 my step dad Leon. he had been battling cancer for a few years, he also passed away. We had four years in a row, the grandparents were all gone, we missed them and I was so sad for all the grandchildren that will never know them, because most of them were so young.