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The Hardest Choice A Woman Must Make
A brave woman’s decision in 1944 spawns a dynamic new family
It was fall-winter of 1944. A worried, frightened young woman was leaving home and family in North Platte, Nebraska, on a bus to Omaha. She was pregnant and single. A year long casual romance with a B 29 bomber pilot training at a nearby base had gotten her to this point. He had gone off to war in April of that year, neither of them aware that she was pregnant at that time.
She had not heard from him since.
Unwed mothers faced difficult times in 1944. Frequently shunned by family, friends and community, there were hard choices to be made. Backstreet abortions by unscrupulous “doctors” were common, with heavy risks of infection or worse.
Going through with the pregnancy and birth required bravery and a stoic acceptance of the trials ahead. At 26, she had made her choice. When she could no longer hide the obvious, she headed to Omaha, ostensibly for a change of pace and new job.
She quickly found employment as a billing clerk and took up residence in a women’s boarding house.
On December 9th she walked into University Hospital of Omaha in labor. On December 10th, 1944 at 9:30 am, she gave birth to a baby boy. She held the child and wept. She knew she had…
