{"id":1731,"date":"2026-04-23T06:49:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wp_stories\/?p=1731"},"modified":"2026-10-22T07:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T07:51:24","slug":"remembering-my-very-young-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/?p=1731","title":{"rendered":"Remembering my very young life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-34a480d6 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"border-width:1px;border-top-left-radius:14px;border-top-right-radius:14px;border-bottom-left-radius:14px;border-bottom-right-radius:14px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This post is what I remember of my pre-school days, ages 1 to 5, living in Long Beach and Springfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why am I doing this you ask? <br>Who writes about their pre-school days! :))<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\">It was fun for me to remember what I could, so I enjoyed it!<br>Living in the old folks home, I am sensitive to the possibility that I won&#8217;t remember as much in 5 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>My school years in Louisville will have their own post!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The back story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My mom came into her adult life during the Depression. <br>.. which makes me <em>the child of a child<\/em> of the Depression<br>&#8230; a second hand Depression baby I guess! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She was born poor and raised poor on a farm in <strong>southern Indiana<\/strong>. Her people were Dutch.  The name Real kinda gives that away! <br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/?p=190\">Her story<\/a> has it&#8217;s own post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My dad&#8217;s family was small-time country gentry from a little town near <strong>Springfield Missouri<\/strong>. His people were English who settled in Missouri from North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"border-top-width:1px;border-bottom-width:1px\">A direct descendant of <em>William Freeman <\/em>who<em> fought with the North Carolina militia in the Revolutionary War!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They were the local doctors and lawyers in their part of Missouri. <br>Here is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/?p=308\">his story<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My parents met while going to their respective schools in <strong>Louisville<\/strong> <strong>Kentucky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dad wasat the <strong>University of Louisville Medical School<\/strong>, studying to be a doctor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mom was at <strong>Louisville General Hospital Nursing School<\/strong> to become a Registered Nurse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"border-width:1px;border-top-left-radius:15px;border-top-right-radius:15px;border-bottom-left-radius:15px;border-bottom-right-radius:15px;color:#905f37;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\"><em>Handsome medical student meets good-looking nursing student! <\/em><br>Pretty textbook stuff \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They got married the summer after he graduated in June 1934 &#8230; just as Laura and I got married the summer after I graduated college in 1970! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In normal times they would have had some expectation of starting to make some money, but by 1934 the Depression was underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The records show that they went to Cleveland where my Dad did his residency. Both my older siblings were born in Cleveland (<strong>Hal Jr<\/strong> in 1937, and <strong>Milly<\/strong> in 1940).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sad to say, I know almost nothing about their time in Cleveland. Job prospects in the Depression must have sucked, so a residency in Cleveland for my dad might have been just the thing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know first hand how dispiriting it can be to get the job market for the first time in a year when the job market is crappy! That was me in the Carter Recession of th mid-70&#8217;s, and that was how I ended up taking a job at a government agancy in DC (the Census Bureau) in 1976 rather than heading off to California for fame and fortune!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"border-top-width:2px\">World War II happens<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Cleveland in the late 1930&#8217;s I like to imagine that my mom was happy raising cute little Hal Jr, and looking forward to a second baby (in April 1940), my sister Milly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I imagine my dad was happy in civilian life, being a big shot doctor. The couple was looking forward to a comfortable doctor\/nurse married live in Springfield MO (his home) or Louisville\/Southern Indiana (her home). He would have had a nice little practice, she would have been his nurse or stayed home as a full-time mom. They would have a picture-perfect doctor\/nurse life <br>(<em>I like to imagine<\/em>) &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those were not normal times. <strong>Pearl Harbor<\/strong> happened and the country mobilized for war. My dad was no longer a civilian, he enlisted as an Army doctor and was stationed in <strong>Long Beach CA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m guessing that the Army paid to move for the whole crew &#8211; Dad, pregnant mom, and 3 year-old boy &#8211; from Cleveland to Long Beach. I don&#8217;t know where in that process they got the terrible news that Butchie had rheumatic fever and might die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"border-top-width:2px\">Pre-school in Springfield MO between the Army and grade school<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A World War was a huge enterprise that moved a lot of people to a lot of places.  My dad applied to be a  airplane pilot, but was rejected because of heart issues. They wouldn&#8217;t take him as a pilot, but they sure would take him as an Army doctor, and stationed him in Long Beach!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My guess is that the Army moved the whole crew, Dad, pregnant Mom, and children to Long Beach, then moved the whole crew, Dad, Mom, and children (including me!) back to the midwest when he was mustered out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If my mom had had a choice I think she would have relocated to someplace closer to her home on southern Indiana. But I don&#8217;t t think the Army gave her a choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The important thing to them was to get the family back to the midwest on the government&#8217;s dime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My parents divorce was a done deal before they left Long Beach. <br>The papers were filed in California in <strong>1949<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cross-country moves were still a pretty big deal in the 50&#8217;s.  Having the government pay for the big part of the move &#8211; Long Beach -> Missouri &#8211; was a big deal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I said elsewhere, the death of older brother Butchie pretty much shattered the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don&#8217;t remember anything about living in Long Beach, but I remember little snippets of Springfield. I remember sitting in the car with Milly outside my dad&#8217;s apartment while mom went inside to have serious talk with him about divorce stuff. Then she&#8217;d come back and bring me in so I could have my visitation with him without having to hear them fight. She was a great mom and my sister was a very patient 10 year old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember getting in trouble in pre-school for coloring with crayons on the nap-time cots, so I had to stay inside and clean the cots.   <br>[<em>Crazy that I still remember that<\/em>!]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The place my Dad moved in to when we moved to Springfield in 1950 was the place he stayed until he died in 1963. A nice 3-story red brick building a half-block walk from where he worked. He had the right hand half of the top floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His office was in the Professional Building right around the corner. He lived on Elm St, but worked on Cherry St.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All traces if both buildings and basically everything I remember about the area  have been wiped out by a massive expansion of Southwest Missouri State University. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post is what I remember of my pre-school days, ages 1 to 5, living in Long Beach and Springfield. Why am I doing this you ask? Who writes about their pre-school days! :)) It was fun for me to remember what I could, so I enjoyed it!Living in the old folks home, I am [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75,164,128],"class_list":["post-1731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","tag-family","tag-growing-up","tag-springfield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3128,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions\/3128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpgreen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}