Amy

Elsie Amelia Christensen (to be called Amy) joined our lives on November 16, 1953 in Charleston, South Carolina

   When Barbara and I were married, we hoped that we would be blessed with children, and were we ever blessed!!

     As it turned out, we were pleased with the prospect of our first child arriving in November of 1953.  (In those days, we had no knowledge of whether to expect a boy or a girl—and so it was with each of the others.)

     I received my orders in March of 1953 to report to active duty at the Sewart Air Force Base near Nashville, Tennessee, for orientation and future assignment on July 28, 1953.  I assumed that within six months, I could be located in Korea somewhere. The Air Force Officer's Guide suggested that the officer report for active duty and when the location of his assignment had been determined, to then have the wife join him after living accommodations had been worked out.  Interestingly, my Dad insisted that Barbara travel with me even though we had no idea where I would be assigned.

     So, in the heat of the summer, without air conditioning in our car, which was not uncommon at that time, we traveled from Banida, Idaho, to Nashville, Tennessee, with no idea of where we would be staying.  Barbara said that she felt like she was “thirteen-months-along,” as we made our way across the country in the heat and humidity to our first assignment clear to the Atlantic coast and the Charleston Air Force Base in Charleston, South Carolina.  For us, what a blessing it was that the day we were to report to active duty, July 28, 1953, the armistice between North and South Korea was signed and fortunately it held.  As a result, I don’t have any “war” stories to tell anyone.

     Finally, about November 14th or 15th, Barbara began having contractions and the labor pains associated with them.  The Sixth Naval District Hospital served all the military and dependents in that area.  We were told by the doctors that when the contractions came to be about five minutes apart, we were to report to the hospital.  Many hours had already passed when we finally made the trip to the hospital.  Barbara was placed in a room with several other expectant mothers-to-be.  About the only assistance received from the medical staff was an occasional nurse appearing at the door and saying, “Relax.”

     Things were going slowly for Barbara.  I noted the time intervals between the contractions in the margins of a copy of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin of which I had been reading.  (I remember giving that copy to Amy for her history).  After about 28 hours of contractions, I thought I needed to go to my office at the Base Exchange and get things going there.  I called the hospital to inquire about how things were coming with Barbara and was told that she was in “the early stages of labor.”  I called literally a few minutes later and was told that Barbara had already delivered a baby girl!  I ran out of the office and the BX declaring, “I’ve just had a baby!”

     When I arrived at the hospital, I saw Barbara and then the nurse brought the baby to show to the proud father.  I noted that she carefully put the blanket on the top of her, (Amy’s), head to cover the cone-shaped cranium which had formed during Barbara’s long 30-hours+ period of contractions. Amy weighed 6 pounds and 1½ ounces. She was 22 inches long.

     Since it was November and a very busy time for Mom Kohler back in Midway, I had been told that as soon as Barbara was taken to the delivery room I was to call her.  She didn’t want to be leaving home at Thanksgiving and Christmas time to await a late arrival so far away.  She then planned to board a Greyhound bus and make the land trip for 3-4 days so she could be with Barbara for a time to help after the baby’s birth.

     So, dutifully, I called the home in Midway.  Zelda answered the phone and I gave her the message that a baby girl had been born.  Zelda said, “Oh, Mom has already left.  She woke up this morning and said, ‘I think my Bobbie needs me.’”  I always have considered that to be an example of a faithful mother’s spiritual intuition.

     In those days, it was common for the mother to remain in the hospital for three or four days before being released.  That allowed time for her to see a lot of the United States before arriving in Charleston.

     I met Mom Kohler at the bus depot and we drove directly to the hospital to pick up Barbara and Amy.  On the way, she said something to me that I have never forgotten: “Well, Joe, now you and Barbara have assumed a responsibility that you can never relinquish.”  And, so it is, throughout their mortal lives and on into the eternities.  Barbara was so overjoyed to see that I brought her Mother with me when I picked her up from the hospital. Elsie had just had Elizabeth’s wedding and then a trip to South Carolina with Thanksgiving coming up! What a woman she was. Barbara comments: "I stand in awe of her the longer I live and consider her life of service."

     Mom Kohler gave us help for several days.  When we announced that we wanted to name the new arrival, “Elsie Amelia,” after her and my Grandmother, Amelia Almira Miles, she said, “Well, she will always be Amy to me!”  And, so it has been.  She didn’t like her name, Elsie, because that was the name of her step-grandmother of whom her mother was not particularly fond.

     The only charge from the hospital for Amy’s delivery was for the food Barbara consumed while there:  $8.75!  Years later, when we mentioned that to our other children, Stephen said in a rather smart-alecky way, “Well, you get what you pay for.”

      We were pleased that my parents, Joe and Goldie Christensen, along with my Uncle John Christensen, traveled across the United States to be present for Amy’s blessing which occurred in the Charleston Ward sacrament meeting.  We loved having them there and were grateful for their sacrifice of time and effort in making the long trip.

     It felt strange to be away for Christmas that first year. I gave Barbara a rocking chair for a present. Barbara's mother thought it a wonderful idea and said that every mother needs a rocking chair. We still have it and it is wonderfully comfortable as it was then. Of course, it has been recovered a time or two. In March of 1954 we moved a few blocks to a nice little house located at Rt 9 Box 280-F, Charleston Heights, S.C.

     Amy continued to grow and become more delightful every day. Bishop Royall announced that she was his idea of a beautiful and perfect baby. She was the darling of the Charleston Ward. Everyone wanted to hold her and tend her from the time we entered the chapel. She was bald for over a year, but that didn’t detract from her beauty.

  We will always be grateful for having Amy as our first child. She always set an example for the rest of the children. She was an achiever from her earliest years. She was blessed with a beautiful soprano voice and pleased many diverse audiences with her singing. She was accomplished and graduated with honors from the University of Utah in the area of Consumer Management (We used to call it Home Economics) and has been very successful applying her skills in homemaking, sewing, cooking, economics, etc. throughout her life. Her speaking ability has been noted and many audiences, particularly within the Church have been positively influenced by her messages - especially among the youth. She has a voracious capacity to read. I know of no one who has read more books and she has a remarkable capacity to remember titles, plots and authors. She has always been a devoted member of the Church and wherever they have been located, the ward and the stake have been strengthened. While dating, there were serious returned missionary suitors, but we have always been confident that in selecting Don Poulton, she made the right choice. She has become a dedicated mother to her five children and a loving grandmother.