My youngest sister was Sharon Gail Thomas; she was
born September 19, 1951. That is a day I remember very well.
Ms Alberta had taken us three older children down to
the company store. Ms Alberta usually held Jean’s hand and Danny’s hand and,
since I was the oldest, I held onto her skirt tail. That way she knew she had
all of her children safe and she knew where we were.
That day Jean was tired and Ms Alberta had picked
her up to carry her; Dan and I held onto her skirt tail. Somehow, Ms Alberta
tripped and stumbled; she twisted her body to protect Jean and fell belly bust
across the metal railroad track.
When she stood up she was pale and water started
running down her legs. Neighbors had seen when she fell and came rushing to
help.
Ms Alberta was taken to Harlan Hospital in Harlan,
Harlan County, Kentucky where she underwent an emergency c section.
I remember thinking how beautiful Sharon Gail was;
so tiny, but so perfect in every way. Sharon Gail seemed to grow and thrive at
a rapid rate.
By the first week of December I was allowed to sit
and hold my beautiful baby sister while Ms Alberta was fixing breakfast. This
was the time I was allowed to feed Sharon, while Ms Alberta was fixing
breakfast. I would sit in my little rocking chair, with a pillow under my arm
to help support her head while she took a bottle.
My father, Harold, was a coal miner. Every morning
we would all get up when he did so we could eat breakfast when he did. The morning
of December 7th, Sharon didn't wake up when we did. When I asked Ms Alberta why she was still asleep; I was told it was because she had been up
later the night before and was just sleeping in. Sharon Gail had laughed out
loud for the first time. The soft, musical sound still rings in my memory.
My Dad had all ready gone to work; Ms Alberta was
cleaning up the kitchen while Danny and Jean sat in their high chairs finishing
up breakfasts. I was sitting in my rocking chair waiting for Sharon Gail to
wake up.
The houses we were required to rent from the coal
mine owners didn't have screens on the windows and they didn't have screen
doors. Ms Alberta had opened the kitchen door to allow heat from the cooking
stove out.
A cat came in the open back door; it wrapped itself
around first Jean’s high chair legs and then Danny’s high chair legs. When it
had done that it turned, looked at me and went to the closed door of the
bedroom where Sharon Gail was.
I remember calling out to Ms Alberta and asking
again about Sharon Gail and that was when Ms Alberta noticed the cat at the
bedroom door.
Ms Alberta ran to the bedroom door and I followed
her in. Sharon Gail was lying in the middle of the bed, her face was blue and
she wasn't breathing.
Ms Alberta grabbed Sharon Gail up, shook her, and
then started screaming and running. I followed her as far as the open back
door; but I stayed with my younger brother and sister.
Not much later a neighbor came to get us three
children; to take us to where Ms Alberta sat in a chair looking off into the
distance. She was waiting for my father to be told and for him to come be with
her.
Sharon Gail had been placed on a bed in the neighbor’s
bedroom, covered up with a white chenille bedspread, which had pink rose buds
and roses around the outside edges and through the middle. I know what the
bedspread looked like because I snuck in to see my baby sister.
I had pulled
the spread back so I could see her. The neighbor caught me looking at her and
told me I was probably too young to know what death was, but Sharon Gail had
died and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.
But I did understand what death meant, because just
the week before I had found a dead bird and Dad had explained it had died and
that we would bury it. I knew that my baby sister would have to be buried and
it made me very sad.
This is the only picture of Sharon Gail, it was taken just weeks before she died; that's me holding her.
Ms
Alberta mentions December 7, 1951 and the death of her youngest child, Sharon
Gail Thomas.
Posted: 2012 February (19) 1951 December 7
I
was four years, eleven months and eight days old when Sharon Gail died. I can
remember that day as if it was yesterday.
