When I started school, (I started early – maybe 5) I was sick a lot with tonsillitis a lot. Another early memory is of going to St. Mary’s Hospital and the Sister telling me she was going to take me to the “perfume” room that was probably ether.
The perfume room was the operating room and after my tonsils were taken out, I got my first doll that I can remember (I had a brown bear before that) This is the little rubber doll in the basement in the cradle with damaged arm & leg. I don’t know what ever became of the bear. That doll suffered through a lot with an owner determined to have a doll with hair. I painted her hair area black to give the effect to more hair. When I decided that I wanted her to have real hair like dolls I had seen in Sears Catalog, I cut my hair and glued it onto her head. It actually did not look too bad either. There are remnants of glue on her head now, poor thing. She’s been through a lot, because later I painted hair on her again.