Around the Sun Again

By Eilene Lyon

Today I celebrate another trip around the sun. I thought it might be a good time to reflect on my arrival on this Earthly Plane, oh-so-long ago. First a little background.

My father was in ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) in college. He married my mother after their junior year, and upon graduation joined the Army. My brother, Steve, was born at Dad’s first station in Fort Lewis, Washington.

In January 1961, Dad attended language school to learn French in preparation for a posting in France later in the year. Mom and Steve enjoyed their time living in Monterey, California, so much so that Mom was soon pregnant with me!

That July, Dad went for additional training at Ft. Lee, Virginia. Mom and Steve headed to Little Rock, Arkansas, where her parents lived. Though the Smiths were from the Pacific Northwest, Grandpa had a good job in Arkansas with the Army Corps of Engineers.

In early October, Dad began his journey to France. His first stop was New York City where he visited Mom’s sister and brother-in-law. Dad wrote to Mom and Steve upon arriving in the Big Apple:

It rained or was cloudy all the way to New York and was raining in New York. Some of the buildings were so high that the tops of them were actually above the clouds. I saw the empire state building from the plane.

I had a most interesting meal on the plane. For the first time in my life I ate something that I couldn’t identify. And only I and one other fellow in the front seat had the meal. Everyone else had steak, which was apparently the “first-class” meal. But anyway what I had I think was chicken or turkey white meat rolled onto a stick, breaded and deep fat fryed. When I hit the center melted butter gushed out and there was something green chopped like. Along with this delicious thing was what I think might have been rice. But the kernels, or whatever, were long and brown. Anyway I tried a forkfull, and they were delicious. The rest of the meal was also very good; a fruit salad, veg. salad, roll, milk, and cake-type dessert with whipped cream.

Five days later, Dad wrote from France:

After an 18 ½ hour flight I landed at Orley Field, Paris at 1030 hours local time—0330 Little Rock time. We had a nice flight all the way on a military type DC-7 aircraft.

We made two intermediate stops. One at Harman Air Base near Corner Brook, New Foundland, the other at Prestwick Air Base, Glasgow, Scotland. After leaving Harmon, we were over the Atlantic for nearly eight continuous hours and I never saw it once. At first we were above a thick white cloud bank then the darkness was on us the remainder of the trip.

Though he was supposed to be picked up by someone at the airport, that didn’t happen. Instead he had to take a bus to Orleans and on arrival he was quite dispirited, clearly missing the family. He would not be there for my birth.

My Grandma Smith typed up a letter to Dad on Sunday, December 31, 1961:

You now have a beautiful roly-poly daughter and both baby and mother are doing fine. Sylvia said she had her first pain about 1:30 a.m. and along about 4:00 they began to come quite often, though not with any regularity. About 5:30 we decided it was time to contact the doctor and lo and behold he was already at the hospital. He said to bring her on over and we got there about 6:00. She was having pretty hard labor by that time and so things progressed quite rapidly. I saw Eilene Marie about 9:00 a.m. and she let out a lusty cry. She weighs 8 lb., 10 oz. and has a round chubby face. Dr. Gillespie said everything went along fine with both of them…

I called your Mother when I got home and she said she felt that it was going to be a girl. She was happy that it was born on her wedding anniversary and also in 1961. She said, “One thing finally went right for the Halse family in 1961.”

I should explain that my Grandma Halse lost her husband, her mother, and her father-in-law in 1961. That’s a rough year!! Though I didn’t plan it, I’m glad I could give her a little cheer at the tail end.

Feature image: Mom (pregnant with me) with Steve and her parents, Clare and Laurence Smith, in Little Rock.