T '■
Every newspaper editor who
listens to his home town’s
heartbeat, and concerns him
self with the little story be
hind the big story, ends up a
millionaire.
Not a million dollars, al
though a few shrewd editors
do get wealthy In the financial
realm, but a million memories.
Life at best Is bittersweet, so
Inevitably and recollections that
linger and mellow as the years
roll by are alternately happy
and sad.
This morning we’re remem
bering things In a lighter vein.
And, for no apparent reason,
we’ve been thinking about the
Sunday morning, almost a
quarter of a century ago, when
the Stork delivered Tommy and
Terry Mldyette at St. Lukes
hospital here.
The writer was already an
authority on parenthood, hav
ing become the proud father of
an eight pound daughter at the
same location a few days earl
ier. We were also an authority,
or so we thought, on how long
It takes to perform a Caesar
ian section, since that happen
ed to be the way Jo Carole
arrived on earth.
Charles and Margaret Mid-
yette, who rate high on our
list of favorite New Bernlans,
had been informed that they too
would become parents In the
same manner, and Margaret had
just been escorted upstairs to
the operating room when we put
in an appearance at St. Lukes
to bolster the spirits of the
very nervous expectant father.
Charles, with a bad case of
jitters, was sweating it out
alone in Dr, Joe Patterson’s
office, and was swallowing a pill
when we entered. As is usually
the situation at such a time as
this, he was truly the forgot
ten man.
As best we could, we pro
ceeded to reassure him. Know
ing how long it took to com
plete our own daughter’s de
livery, we added twenty min
utes and lied to Charlie, Our
line of reasoning was to ease
the suspense somewhat, and
have him become a father be
fore the clock pointed to the
time he would envision as the
crucial monent.
Like a lot of the calculations
we’ve been smug about, this
one was a dismal failure. The
amount of time it had taken
for our daughter to arrive pass
ed, and so did those twenty
extra minutes we had lied about.
From that point on, although
we tried to cdnceal it, we were
even more nervous that the ex
pectant father. But for the fact
that it didn’t seem the wise
thing to do, considering
Charlie’s condition, we would
have asked for a couple of his
pills.
Just when he appeared on the
verge of fainting, the news came
that he was the father of twins—
a boy and a girl. Never, before
nor since, have we seen an
ailing man recuperate as
rapidly. A short while later,
he was standing In front of the
hospital, with his chest shoved
out, and his head cocked to one
side like a bantam rooster wel
coming the sunrise.
The delivery of Tommy and
Terry was the sixth blessed
event to occur at St, Lukes In
less than a week. The whole
second floor was full of mothers
and babies (there was no mater
nity ward as such)--all except
(Continued on Page 7)
The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEK\
IN THE HEART OP
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
St Per Copy
VOLUME 6
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1963
NUMBER 24
A SURE WINNER—^Francoise Silver Satan, a 7-month at Salisbury on September 1, and first place at Raleigh
old silver toy poodle owned by Frances McD. Fulford on September 2. He possibly missed the top honor at
and Florence E. Hanff of New Bern is still in the puppy Salisbury when he bit the judge. That’s bad business,
classification. This notwithstanding, he won first prize —Photo by Wooten-Moulton.
at the High Point dog show on August 31, second prize
V
i
SEPTEMBER SCENE—New Bern’s nature lovers miss setting, where stream and sky and trees need no de
beauty unsurpassed if they fail to explore the winding bate to assure friendly co-existence. It’s good for the
creeks that empty into the Neuse and Trent. Man’s soul to marvel at God’s creation on quiet waters.—
inhumanity to man seems far away in this peaceful Photo by Wooten-Moulton.