Life in Iowa

The photo of Tony was taken by his grandfather. Note all the hair! The snapshot of Patti and Tony was taken by me. You can tell she liked her little brother!

I had never seen so much snow in all my life until we moved to Iowa! I think 1960-61 winter set records for snowfall in the area. The parking lots had huge piles of snow and one had to be very careful driving because the snow blocked the view. My first purchase were new snow boots!!

The Iowa Department of Education would have honored my teaching certificate. I would still need 9 credit hours to renew it, just as in Kansas. We decided I would be a stay-at-home mom so I didn't accept a teaching certificate.

Mom gave me her mother's electric Singer sewing machine. So I began learning to sew for Patti. At first, I was not very good at sewing or picking out appropriate fabric for a little girl's clothes, but I did learn!

Patti was a quiet baby, even her cry was quiet. I used to lean over her crib to be sure she was breathing. Part of that had to do with the fact that I am asthmatic and I didn't want her to have asthma.

She was used to me going to work so she never cried when I left for work or went somewhere without her. She would just wave "bye-bye."

It was a long drive from Cedar Rapids to Coldwater and/or Ness City. So our visits with our parents were usually once or twice a year. I never thought much about how much Mother missed us until Lisa, my daughter-in-law, said how hard it must have been for Mom when we moved so far away, especially since she was alone.

Tony was born in February 1961, exactly 25 months after Patti. We named him Anthony after a professional singer his grandparents knew and Blake after the character in a book we read.

Tony's first bed was a dresser drawer for the first few days until Patti moved to a big girl's bed. Then he slept in the crib.

We called him Anthony until he decided he wanted to be called Tony - but that was after he went to school. My Mom called him "A.B. the baby!"

Tony had a rubber dog that could be used to prop his bottle when he was big enough. The dog had a bone that just fit in Tony's hand. He carried that bone all over!

Tony had so much hair, as you can see in the photo, that he needed a hair cut before he was three months old. His grandfather did the honors. Not only did he have lots of hair, but he had a double crown!

My mother-in-law came to help out when Anthony was born. She stayed for a couple weeks. I don't remember when my Mom first got to see him. Needless to say, I was a busy mom with the two little ones.