I received a book called “My Father’s Life” from my daughter Natalie. Each page is a question to be answered. Since I type better than I write I have started an online blog.
January 20, 2025What is your mother’s full name and when and where was she born?
Florence Schlund. I believe her middle name may be Irene but am unsure. I believe she was born at Parkview Hospital June 1, 1934. Mom told the story of when she was born that her father dropped her mother off at the hospital and asked when he should come back to pick her up. According to Mom, men just weren’t part of the birthing process back then.
Describe you mother. What did she do for a living? What were here hobbies?
I stared at this questions for quite some time. Should I only describe the good things or should I also include the bad things. Unfortunately, memories of bad things seem to be easier to recall than memories of good things. Part of me wanted to run down the long list of bad memories of my mother but I paused to try and remember the good memories.
My mom had a very difficult life growing up. Her father attempted to kill her mother by shooting her in the head. The bullet lodged in her mother’s head after severing the optic nerve rendering her blind. Her father then proceeded to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head. My mom, the oldest of 3 at 6 years old, discovered the bodies. My mom and her two brothers relied on relatives to raise them. Her blind mother did her best to help raise them but there were not many opportunities for the blind in the 1940’s.
I try to remember the difficulties my mother went through when I recall my memories of her. If I had gone through that difficult and damaging of an upbringing would I have behaved any better than my mother? She was a deeply insecure and distrustful person to those closest to her and a well liked and entertaining person to friends and acquaintances. She would often say hurtful things and make accusations that most people know should not be said out loud even in anger.
I don’t remember a time when my parents were affectionate to each other. There were times that they didn’t fight but the fights were very frequent. There was lots of screaming and yelling. I even recall my mother attempting suicide with a long kitchen knife but crying that she couldn’t get the knife to go in. The things she accused my father of should not be heard by little children and were dangerous to say to a man with a violent temper. I could tell many stories of the many fights that they had but I don’t want give the impression that they were all my mom’s fault. My dad was no saint and he was not the right man to help my mom with her demons.
When we were growing up she was a stay at home Mom. My fondest memory of my mother involved the times I would lay in my mom’s bed for story or naptime and would talk. I was maybe 5 or 6 at the time. She would have me hold my hand up in the air and she would tell me how beautiful my hand was. She would then ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always answered that I wanted to be a farmer because of our Woodburn relatives. I couldn’t pronounce the word correctly so it came more like fahma. My mom would smile, laugh, and hug me. [...]
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January 7, 2025This is my initial entry for the questions contained in the book i received from Natalie. The book is entitled “My Father’s Life”
What is your birthday and what time of day were you born? Where were you born?
My birthday is June 6, 1959. I am unsure exactly what time of day I was born but believe it was in the morning. My twin sister Julie was born 6 minutes after me. I was born at Parkview Hospital on Randallia Drive in Fort Wayne, IN
Are there any stories about your birth that were told to you by your parents or other family members?
My Mom did tell me a few things about her pregnancy. Mom was a thin woman and being pregnant with twins made her belly rather large. She told me that when she went to family gatherings that some of the female family members would ask her to go into the bedroom and show them her huge belly. In the 1950’s it would not have been appropriate to do that in front of the men. At those gatherings she got a huge kick out of the fact that she could use her belly as a table to hold dinner plate. She always smiled when she told these stories.
When Julie and I were born I believed we were in the 5 pound range. Although, by today’s standards, this is not an unhealthy birth weight we spent the first few days in an incubator. I believe Julie was able to go home first followed by me a few days later.
What is your full name and what is the story behind it, were you named after someone? What about your middle name?
My full name is Jerry Allen Schlund. I don’t believe I was named after anyone. My grandfather’s name was Gerald so it’s possible that played a part in how I was named. Since I was born a twin, my name had to sound like it matched my sister’s name. Jerry and Julie goes together much better than Robert and Alice. Friends and family members sent my parents suggestions on how we should be named. All suggestions were pairs of names that had the same first letter. My middle name was also part of a pair. Julie’s middle name was Anne. [...]
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