Merriment and Chaos with Five Young ‘Uns, A Birthing

by Lois Myers Harris
April 1985

Just a few memories as recalled by Aunts Lois and “Deezee”.

A BIRTHING

Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers,
Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside,
Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses.

— Longfellow’s “Evangeline”

‘Twas in the year 1959, May 19 to be exact. There was a great hubbub and the preparation at Duck Run, as Mum and Deezee awaited word of a birthing at Bellefonte Hospital. Nanny Myers and Grandma Buchheit were always on hand to take care of the little ones when Betty was ready to go to the hospital. We never went to State College in an empty car. It was Saturday morning – many loaves of white bread and cinnamon rolls had been baked, along with other goodies including a nice fat roasting hen, a pound of Mike Weir’s Delicious dried beef, vegetable soup, etc., etc. Deezee was mowing the lawn when a car with “out of state” tags came in the drive. Lo and behold, it was Blanche and Claude Pippett of Kamrar, Iowa. They were on their way to visit me in Alexandria, VA, and decided to stop at Duck Run for a “hello”. Mum didn’t believe in people coming to just say “hello”. You should always invite them in to stay overnight. Well, you can guess what happened to much of the bread, cinnamon rolls, dried beef, etc. Since they were from Iowa, there was nothing wrong with their appetites. They spent the afternoon sightseeing around our part of the country, stayed overnight, and were sent on their way the next morning with a well-packed lunch.

Before noon on Sunday, May 20, the call came that a little girl had arrived at the Bellefonte Hospital to Vernon and Betty. She was their fifth child, with two brothers and two sisters. Mum and Deezee started off in great haste before more company had a chance to arrive. That night at 315 East Mitchell, Mother heard sobs coming from the boys’ room. She went to investigate. One little boy (I won’t mention names) was sound asleep while the other was sobbing his heart away. She got into his bed and started to comfort him by saying, “You are upset about the new baby, aren’t you?” “Yes,” he replied. “We just don’t need any more babies around here.” At that point, we were afraid the baby would be left on old Mt. Nittany for the lions to devour. However, little black-haired, dark-eyed Betsy Elwood was brought home, and we have all loved her from that moment to the present day.

When Betsy was about three years old, she accompanied her mother, brothers, and sister around the world, with several months in Manilla, to join her father who had received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at the University of Manila. As their ship was pulling into the harbor at Hong Kong for a brief stop, this little girl was starry-eyed over the number of fishing and houseboats docked there, all shapes and colors. Before anyone could say “Jack Robinson”, she leaned over the railing and yelled at the poor old man, “Mister, why don’t you paint your old boat?” Little did she think that her brother would one day command a frigate near those very waters.

This same little lass graduated from high school in three years and went on to the University of Arizona and graduated from there.