In the Beginning...

In the beginning ... my isn’t that deep? I was born at the Cottage Hospital, in Galesburg Illinois Feb 28, 1935. I was told that I was named after the mailman -- maybe that is the reason I don’t resemble any of the rest of my family. And here’s where it starts getting screwed up. In 1954 I, along with several shipmates, were sent to what the Navy called QM(A) school from San Diego, CA, to Bainbridge MD, by train, and as the train passed through Galesburg, we stopped at the train station which just happened to be across the street from Cottage Hospital. Now wasn’t that an interesting tidbit?

At any rate I was the fifth of what turned out to be a family of five, three boys and two girls. My parents actually had 12 children but I guess I broke the mold, because all that came after me died a short time after birth. I actually have no knowledge of how long any of them lived. We actually lived in Birmingham, IL. I have really no recollection of my own from my life in Birmingham, so what follows is a couple of stories that I was told. I have no reason to disbelieve them.

The property we lived on also contained the one-room Schoolhouse where my brothers and sisters began their education. By the way if you are interested, my oldest sister, Marie, was seven years older than me, next came my brother Bill, who was I think six years older. Eileen came next and she was four years older and the final was Bob who was three years older. One of the stories my oldest sister told was of the time I was a baby and all of the kids were waiting in the car for our parents for some unknown reason, and while she was trying to either entertain me or kill me, not sure which, she was tossing me in the air and tossed too high and she claims she knocked me unconscious, which might explain the condition I find myself in now.

Another story, and this is one I have a faint memory of, is my oldest brother Bill conning me into dumping all of the corncobs into the outhouse pit and filling up the holes, requiring a new outhouse to be dug. This explains the picture of me at a young age where my Mother wrote on the back, “the meanest, rottenest kid that ever lived”.

One other thing of interest . . . Grandma Howe's birth certificate shows her name as Eveline Marie Beitz, her baptismal certificate shows her name and Evelyn Mae. I believe, correct me Dad, that she actually used Evelyn as the spelling.
Yes, Mom always used Evelyn, didn't know about Eveline until you told us.
Dad always called her Evie.

Also, sorry, to correct below . . . according to the census and border xings Wendel was a hotel keeper not a saloon keeper. I misspoke below.

No apology necessary, Mom always said he was a "Saloon Keeper". I'm not sure which was the more proper or better thought of title. I suppose in this day and age "Inn-Keeper would be more PC and higher class.