In the winter of 1950 a young nursing student from Pawtucket, Rhode Island,found herself heart sick in love with a dashing young Merchant Marine from Cranston. He came from money... his parents were less than thrilled that their son was dating a mill-workers daughter. Bernard and Edith Haggerty had two sons, David Frederick and Bruce. David wined and dined the tall lovely red head. They danced at Rhodes on the Putuxet. The weeks flew by and young Thelma found herself suddenly pregnant. When she shared the news with young David, he told her that she had made her bed and now she must lie in it.
Alone and frightened she turned to her own mother. Lottie Marion Kay had been recently widowed and without Harry at her side she took the approach of most mothers in those days... she told her daughter that she would have to be sent away and give the child up for adoption. Being a nursing student the young woman was quick to find out where she could receive a back room abortion. There was no Roe V Wade back then but Illegal abortions were not that unusal . So armed with an address and a bus ticket, Thelma made the trip into Providence and on a cold early spring night she got off the bus, walked up a back alley to the address she had beeen given and climbed the stairs of the old three story tenament building. As she approached the top flight she heard a very distinct voice say, "Thelma, if you do this, then who will you have to love you?" This so shocked her that she looked around to see who had spoken. Realizing that the voice was perhaps the voice of God, she began crying and turned and walked down the stairs, back down the alley and waited quietly for the bus. (to be continued...)
No comments:
Post a Comment