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More About Dorothy Stephenson

I thought I knew the important events of my Mom's life. But this year I learned something about her that I never would have suspected. I had known that Mom had a stillborn baby, Allen Leroy, the year before I was born. And I learned more recently that Mom lost twins during pregnancy before my brother was born. But this year I found that Mom became pregnant before she was married to my Dad. She gave up the baby for adoption.

These were things that Mom didn't talk about. I don't blame her. They weren't pleasant things. She didn't want me to know about her early pregnancy, but now when I think back, there were things she did say to me that tie back to that event. And I can't help but think that that event changed her.

I discovered that Mom was mother to another child through the use of Ancestry DNA. After contacting a close, but unknown, DNA match, and doing a little research, I suspected Mom had another child. And then I confirmed the story with relatives. It just never came up, or if it did, I rejected what they said. But I did get the story of what happened.

It was 1939. Mom was two years out of high school, living in Denison with her parents. She had met my Dad and they were dating, possibly even engaged. But Dad traveled out west for work and was gone for long periods of time. Mom, and Dad's sister, Janae, went to a party. Janae got drunk and couldn't walk. Mom didn't drive and Janae couldn't walk home so Mom asked a guy to help her take Janae home. But the guy raped Mom. Mom became pregnant.

I think it was a pretty well kept secret. Apparently, not even her Dad knew about this. I think Mom went to live with her sister Lois and Rolla Brink in Castana, perhaps to "help Lois", who was herself expecting Ardel at the time, and who had a toddler, Bill, to care for as well. In any case, the Brink's doctor was also the doctor for Mildred and Laverne Palmer, also of Castana. Mildred Palmer had lost a baby a while before and was struggling with that. The baby boy was born in 1940, and given to the Palmers. Laverne brought the baby home to Mildred. He was named Keith Stephenson Palmer. I believe that Mom named the baby. She told me once she always liked the name Keith.

Obviously, this experience was hard on Mom. First off, being raped itself had to have been horrible. Getting pregnant, having to hide the fact, and then giving up the baby only made it all worse. But perhaps worst of all was having to convince everyone that it really was a case of rape, and then having them doubt her story. Mom and Dad were married in 1941. So Dad accepted the story, but I'm not sure about Dad's brothers. Mom never had great relationship with them. I don't know. Now, Janae, Dad's sister,  was a favorite aunt of mine. She was a friend to Mom.

Mom met Keith once. Keith told his mother that he wanted to meet Mom, and the Palmers set it up with the Brinks and Mom, and Keith and his expectant wife visited us in Graettinger. I was only four years old, so I don't remember this, but my brother does. Mom promised a bed to Keith, but when Keith divorced his wife, she instead gave the bed to her. Keith got mad at Mom so that was the end of that relationship.

I have no real idea the full extent of how this affected Mom. Nothing obviously good came from it. But, bad things happen to people all the time. People deal with them in various ways. I think Mom had a pretty good life. She didn't let this event stop her from being a good wife and mother. I think that is the lesson we could learn from her life. Just move on. Live and learn. Here is a picture of Mom taken in 1940, a few months after having Keith. I'm glad to see that she was happy, living life and moving on.

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