GOVER GIRL

DONNA

(IL-11-S)

6

y life began on July first, 1938, in the city of Chicago. I

was the first born child of two lovely parents who

had just made it through the Depression by a lot of hard work. Within a few months after my birth, my father found a better job in his hometown, a southern surburb of Chicago, and we moved in temporarily with his parents until he could find a house for the three of us to live in. At least they thought it was temporary until the war came along and we were stuck for the duration.

During the first five years of my life I was often sick. Nothing serious - just a constant series of colds or flu. But it did mean that I was kept inside of the house most of the time, and told to play quietly. For this reason, as well as a lack of children my own age in the neighborhood, I was not able to form the usual relationships with children and was associating primarily with adults. Everyone was always happy that I was "good," and "Quiet." The only experience that made any impression on me during this period was that one Christmas I received a General Mac Arthur doll (this was war time) and I overheard a comment that "Isn't he a little old for dolls?" As I recall, this doll did not have any special signifi- cance to me nor did I play with it very much, but perhaps it was an indication of things to come. There were a fair number of kids in my age bracket, in this neighborhood, I still was unable to play with them in the usual manner. When I eventually was allowed to go outside. I was always reminded to "take it casy." This did put a damper on the usual rough-and-tumble play and I was very careful to avoid getting into fights