I love you, hums
the April breeze
I love you, echo the hills
I love you, the golden dawn agrees. . .
I love you, echo the hills
I love you, the golden dawn agrees. . .
Songwriter: Cole Porter
The Golden Dawn
May
18, 1944
The day I was born the world was still at war, yet love was
in the air, Bing Crosby's “I Love You” at the top of the music charts. And so
it has been throughout my life, no matter where or what, I have felt loved.
I was born at 6:45 on a Thursday evening in Warsaw,
Indiana, in the McDonald Hospital owned by Dr. J. R. Baum. The total cost for
delivery and five-day stay was $57.50.
Grandma Hirschy wrote in her diary on May 19th:
“. . . got a telegram from Sam this morning stating Rita Dorene arrived last
night, 7 lbs.”
A few days later Grandma traveled from Evans City, Pennsylvania,
to help when Mother got out of the hospital. An entry in her five-year diary
records, “Sam carried Kathryn out to the car and into their new home. I held
the baby.” Was that so he wouldn't have to hold me, perhaps? Mother claims that
Dad was afraid of holding the baby.
Later, in a letter addressed to my grandfather Grandma
wrote, “My dear companion, Kathryn got up to eat dinner with us in the kitchen
this noon but got feeling fainty so Sam carried her back to bed and she ate
there. . .”
I would never have known about Mother's initial frailty had
not Grandmother Hirschy kept such good records, and had these letter and
diaries not been carefully archived by thoughtful family members. I remember Mother's
later pregnancies: she was strong and healthy and worked very hard almost till
the last minute. Even in her nineties she rarely admitted to a moment of weakness.
Grandpa Hirschy wrote in the family letter, carbon-copied
and mailed to the six children scattered abroad, “Mother got home from
Huntington a week ago today. She says the baby is a Hoyt, she has dark hair and
is a very intelligent child, already understands when you talk to her. Hoyt and
Hirschy must make a wonderful combination!!!!!” (Yes, there were that many
exclamation marks.) This quotation makes me smile every time I read it and shows
me that I was welcomed into a very loving family.
Thinking about my grandparents' laborious efforts elicits
gratitude for another “birth” in 1944. Scientists at Harvard University, with
some funding from IBM, constructed the first automatic, general-purpose
computer. The advances in technology make this task of writing my stories a
thousand times easier than the labor-intensive communication maintained by my
grandparents with their children overseas. What a work of love that must have
been!
Though my entry into the world was a happy one, there was
great turmoil at the time; the world was in the throes of a terrible war. The
now famous young diarist, Anne Frank, and her family were discovered while in
hiding and died along with millions of Jews in Nazi concentration camps.
My own uncle, mother's younger brother Philip Hirschy, was
wounded in the war in Europe and went missing in action for weeks. Those were
terrifying times. There was a shortage of manpower; women went to work and
Rosie the Riveter, the ubiquitous poster woman of the day, transformed the
image of femininity forever. Major annual events were canceled. The
Indianapolis 500 was not held that year nor the U.S. Open Golf Tournament.
Those were very busy times for Dad and Mother. They were
both studying at Grace Seminary, in Winona Lake, Indiana, at the time of my
arrival. Dad, very tan from working on the railroad, was also pastoring a small
Grace Brethren church in Huntington, Indiana. Mother had a part-time cleaning
job. For most people, life moved on even while World War II was wrapping up.
For me life was dawning.
