When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood, and the town you grew up in.
I was born in the U.S. Army Hospital at Ft. Devens, Middlesex County, Massachusetts on Friday, 16 January 1953, the oldest child and only daughter of my parents Barbara Jean Roskelley and Joseph James Pehrson. The president of the United States was Harry S. Truman; Niagra, a movie directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, and Jean Peters, was one of the most popular movies of the year, and The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas (which sat on my folks book shelves my entire life) was one of the best selling books. Besides being a momentous occasion for me and my Mom and Dad, it was also the day that the Corvette was presented at a car show that took place at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. And, since my husband loves all things Hitler and WWII, on this day in 1945 Hitler went to his bunker, following a number of defeats and alllied forces approaching Berlin, where he would stay with Eva Braun, his companion, for 105 days until they committed suicide.
My Father was stationed at Ft. Devens, but lived off-post in a small hamlet named Ayer. One year (1998-99?) we took Desi, Cherstin, and Felicia back East to see Washington, D.C., Gettysburg, Valley Forge, Church History sites in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Ohio, and drove all the way to Maine, stopping in Massachusetts to see Plymouth, Salem, and of course, Ayer and Ft. Devens. The hospital has long been torn down and we didn't know much about the exact home that Mom and Dad lived in in Ayer...but we found the street and I really appreciated the time we took to look for these places. The area is so beautiful and it didn't look like it had changed much over the 50+ years...although I'm sure it had!
It is ironic that last year, as I was doing my visiting teaching, I learned much about my Mom and Dad from this period.
My companion and good friend, Emily Sammons, and I had long had an elderly sister on our route, Mary Turner, who we dearly love. A beautiful painting of a 'great ship' hangs over Mary's fireplace and it has always reminded me of the ships that my brother, Mike, has painted. I asked Mary about it, as such paintings are not found in this region much, and she told me that she and Bob (her husband) had had the painting since their early marriage and it reminded her of home. When I asked her where "home" was originally, she told me Maine. When I asked where in Maine, she told me Grey. At the time Felicia was dating Tom and I knew he was from Maine but didn't know where or even his last name. But I told Mary that he was from Maine and she got excited and asked if it was one of the Bibbers from Grey. While sitting there I looked on Felicia's page and found out that Tom was indeed a Bibber and from Grey! What a small world!!!! Mary then proceeded to share that Tom's folks and and Mary and Bob had joined the church the same year in Grey and lived in the same branch and even been visiting teaching companions at one time. How ironic is that????
Fast forward to last year. Emily and I were visiting with a new sister on our route, Wanda Barron. Wanda and Mary are contemporaries and since we had just come from Mary's home, Wanda was anxious to hear about how Mary was doing as she and Bob were having some health issues. I shared what I could with Wanda and told her that I was fairly certain Mary wouldn't call me unless the situation got dire because of her old "Yankee Independence". Wanda nodded in agreement and then asked if I had known that she had lived in New England at one time. I hadn't but told her that I had been born in Massachusetts and she told me that she and her husband had lived in Massachusetts when her husband had been stationed there in the army. I told her that my folks had been there for the same reason but they had lived in a little town called Ayer. She said that she had lived in Ayer! I was beginning to wonder if it was my folks...but what would the odds be? She shared that there had been a "little LDS couple that had lived in an apartment over theirs and in fact, they even took us to church in Boston once." I had remembered that my folks had lived in an upstairs apartment but couldn't remember much more. We shared our message and checked on her and then left.
A few hours later there was a knock at our door. There stood Wanda with a very funny expression on her face. She asked me what my parents last name was. I said, "Pehrson" and she interjected, "spelled really different, huh?" I then spelled my maiden name and she asked me my parents first names. As I said, "Joe and Barbara, although Mom went by Bobbie often back then", she gasped in amazement and exclaimed, "I changed your diapers!" LOL! Evidently Mom had been expecting me in January and she was expecting her son in February...so Mom let her practice changing my diaper and giving me a bath or two. She also told me that Mom had enlisted her to help her hold a little play/teaching group of the neighborhood children once a week...it wasn't until she and her husband joined the church that she realized that my Mom had been having Primary with the children! That is so like my Mom...always on alert to help and make things better for everyone! She told me that Dad was even the one that drove her to the hospital when she went into labor. By March, Mom and Dad had taken off for California as Dad had orders for Korea. Wanda told me that although she and her husband hadn't joined the church then, when the missionaries had come tracting through when they lived in Knoxville and had just had a baby, she had known the church was true then and they had joined. They became stalwarts in the church here and in fact, her son-in-law was Rich's counselor for several years. Through the years she had tried to get in touch with my Mom and Dad but hadn't succeeded. I bet Dad and Bill are having a good time now! I take real comfort in the knowledge that my Mom and Dad have ALWAYS been an "example of the believers" and that when we least expect it, we may be lighting the path for someone and not even know it!
So - I didn't finish the second part of that assigned question and because I grew up in several places...I think I'll answer that part over the next week....
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