In the beginning…
I will start this project of my life story that I know will take several months. It may seem like I ramble at times, but I’m writing as I think of things. Maybe when it’s all done, I’ll go back and re-order everything and try to make sense of it all.
To start at the beginning, I was born Oct 9, 1942 to Emily Ida Marie Hoag (maiden name -Altman) and Lewis Truman Hoag. My Dad has the middle name Truman which was his father’s first name. My middle name is Lewis which is my father’s first name. I have continued this tradition down to Matt. His middle name is James. I think Nathan’s middle name is Matthew, so that makes 5 generations that have followed the tradition.
I was born in Battle Creek, Michigan at Leila Hospital. I don’t know what time of day it was, but I know my mother was fond of telling me how hard it was. She must have had a difficult delivery. I always felt I was worth it, though.
I don’t think my father was there when I was born. I think he had already left to serve in the Army for World War II. I think this is true because my mother always told me a story about when I was a baby:
Shortly after I was born, my mother decided to take a train and go to Kansas to see my Dad. He was in basic training and getting ready to ship out overseas. The only thing I know about the trip was that she went there to see him and that she stayed at a motel that was infested with bed bugs. She woke up in the middle of the night and both her and I were covered in bed bugs. She got out of there real fast and came home. We didn’t see Dad again until he returned from the war in 1945. It’s not much of a story but she liked to talk about the bugs.
More later…