Family History: Joe Leslie Wood, Part I

Joe Leslie Wood was born in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas on June 13, 1943. He was the first baby in the L.D. and Inez Wood family born in a hospital, primarily due to the fact that World War II was in full swing and doctors were scarce. The days of doctors going to homes to spend hours or days delivering babies was over. Joe's birth was the most difficult one for Mother. She said no one would tell her what was wrong, but she felt he was breech and was very worried about him. (Eventually, many years later, she got Dr. Hunt to admit that Joe was born breech. They were unable to turn him until the very last minute.) Joe Leslie was born with a full head of black hair, bright blue eyes, and a full set of lungs. I don't blame him for having a screaming fit after such a traumatic birth! He deserved it! Joe weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, which, coincidentally, is exactly what I weighed when I was born. Mother was in the hospital for a full week after having Joe so that both of them could recover better.

Joe Leslie Wood, Age 1
Being the third child born into the family, he ended up being firmly in the middle of the five of us. Mother described him as quiet as a child, but declared often over the years, "Doris Elaine, you and Joe are the loudest kids of the whole bunch! I don't know why you both are so loud or where you got that!" Well, we know Daddy didn't have a loud voice so I'll let you surmise the rest yourself. Joe and I weren't always loud. We both loved to read and readers aren't perpetually loud, after all. True, Joe could amp up the volume in social situations and was truly the life of any party, especially family parties. Things could be rather tame and quiet and then Joe would walk in and say, "Hello 'dere!" in his loud, friendly way and the whole party was immediately more lively and fun. To this day I can still hear him say that and it always brings a smile to my face.

Joe was a good kid growing up and never got into too much trouble. Of course, there was the time Daddy caught John and Joe smoking behind the barn. Then there was the time that Daddy, Mother and the girls went to town and Joe ended up getting shot in the mouth with a BB gun. Daddy had given the boys strict instructions not to even get the BB gun out while at the farm alone, but you know what happened. The moment the dust from the car had settled down, that BB gun was out! They were shooting at tin cans on the fence, a la cowboy movie style. John was shooting and actually hit a can, but the BB richocheted off the can and zinged its way straight to Joe's lower lip! It was bleeding pretty good, but the BB was lodged. The boys didn't tell Mother and Daddy anything about it when they got back home because they both knew they'd be in big trouble if the truth were found out. Joe hurt for days as the BB wound festered up. He started running fever. He was in an awful fix. Mother and Daddy had noticed the wound, but didn't know what caused it or how bad it really was.
Finally Joe went to Daddy and told him what happened. Now, wouldn't you think that most parents would run their kid to the doctor to have the BB removed? Well, of course we would do that nowdays, but this was back in the early 50's and the family lived many miles outside of town. They often did their own emergency doctoring. Daddy sterilized his pocketknife, sterilized Joe's mouth, and slit his lip just enough for the BB to pop out. Then Mother and Daddy cleaned up the wound, kept it doctored until he healed and that was that. Daddy did ask the boys after the home surgery, "You boys ever going to play with the BB gun when I tell you not to anymore?" "No sir." "Good! Let this be a lesson for you!" And that was that.

Mother said as a boy Joe was forever falling around the yard, pretending to be shot, and dying in grand fashion like the cowboys in his favorite movies. She said it could take him 10 minutes to die in dramatic fashion while she'd be laughing at him out the kitchen window. He loved his Westerns!

In our family there seemed to be two sets of kids. Betty and John were closer to one another and Joe and Judy were closer to one another. Part of this was because of the spacing of the kids. Betty and John had each other for several years before Joe came along and then came Judy. When Betty and John grew up and left home first, Joe and Judy were the ones left behind.

The year Joe was graduating from high school, 1961, Mother became pregnant with me to her great astonishment. She was quite worried that Joe and Judy, but especially Joe, would be embarrassed by the fact that his mother was pregnant as he was graduating from high school. Fortunately, Joe wasn't that kind of kid and even seemed somewhat excited.  Joe had planned to enter the Army immediately upon graduating from high school. In light of the fact that Mother was pregnant and on strict orders to do no heavy work or even stand for any length of time (she had miscarried two babies quite far along between Judy and I), Daddy and Mother asked Joe to wait to join the Army until after I was born. Daddy needed Joe's help that summer with the crop and especially with irrigation. Joe agreed to wait. Joe and Judy both worked like troopers that summer and fall. Joe in the fields with Daddy and Judy primarily in the house with Mother.

After I was born, apparently I was a little colicky and a night owl who only required 4-6 hours of sleep a day. When everyone else would be exhausted and giving up on ever soothing me, Joe would pick me up and I'd settle right down. I think that is perhaps when we bonded, but maybe that's my overactive imagination.

Stay tuned for more of Joe's story in the week ahead!