In the Beginning. . .

I was born on a Monday (“Monday’s child is fair of face”---is that why I am so freckled?).  I was born in a Catholic hospital---Josephine Heitkamp Memorial---which later became Incarnate Word Hospital (1640 South Grand, St. Louis Missouri), because with nuns as nurses, mothers and babies got better care than other hospitals during “the war years.” I was born at 3:32 AM and weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces, 19 inches.

 Although the war was technically over, my father was in Shanghai.  I’m not considered a “Baby boomer” because that generation didn’t begin until Jan. 1, 1946---babies CONCEIVED after the war was over.  Although most people don’t have stories about their conception, I do.  My mother went on a train with my dad’s cousin Martha McKay Lalamondier to Portland, Oregon---not an easy trip during the war years with so many soldiers on the trains.  They had passes so it wasn’t expensive, but it was quite an experience for two young attractive ladies.  The war was still active in the Pacific and my dad was getting ready to ship out.  So, my mom and Martha Ann made that trip so my mother could see my dad and hopefully get pregnant.  Mom promised Martha she’d name the baby after her if I was a girl, so my middle name is LeANN.

Mother wanted to name me LeAnn (for LeRoy, Martha Ann Lalumondier, Martha Ann Silas, Annie Reed) or Sunny (Dad was called “Sonny”), but Dad liked Jaclyn.  I just did a search on name popularity and, according to Social Security data, Jaclyn wasn’t even in the top 1000 names until the 1970’s.  Hmm, is that why people are sometimes surprised when they see how old I am?  My nickname is “Jackie” excepting when I was in college and a young adult when I changed it to “Jaci” because it just seemed to go better with “Jaclyn.”  But, as I aged, that spelling seemed too “cutsie”, but “Jackie” didn’t seem right either, so I just sign my name “Jaclyn” which made my mother happy.  Their grocer’s daughter was “Jaclyn Meier” which is how they discovered that spelling.

My family name was “Long” which I NEVER liked.  First, I was always small for my age, so the name just didn’t fit.  I was teased a lot about it---somehow the teasing was OK once I made friends with the tallest girl in our class---Donna Short.  Our teacher always shook her head and called us “the Long and Short of the matter.”  We loved telling people our names and asking them to guess who was who.  I was very sad when we moved away from each other---she went to Ferguson and we went to Bellefontaine Neighbors---not because we were such great friends but because we were a team---together we could tolerate the teasing that we had to endure.

Second, my name just didn’t sound good.  Try saying “Jaclyn LeAnn Long”---too many ls!  I was pretty happy to change my name to “Jaclyn L. Morgan”---it just rolled off the tongue better.  The “L” stands for “LeAnn” and “Long”---I only write it that way.  If someone wants to know my maiden or middle name, they’ll have to ask.

Mom thought “Long” was a great name---she hated having the name “Wicker” because it rhymed with “liquor” and because it was the end of the alphabet.  “Long” was in the middle which was a great place to be, according to her.  I guess I passed that on to my children because “Morgan” is right in the middle, too.