Viewing page 25 of 96

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-25-

-III-

In my library is a handsome little book with blue binding that bears the title, "Memoirs of California's First Incubator Baby." The pages are blank. It was the birthday gift of a friend who was intrigued with the idea. I do not know whether in fact I was the first but the citizens of Guerneville, a small community near Santa Rosa, proudly claimed this dubious distinction for their town. I was born prematurely, a seven-month baby, weighing less then three pounds. Our family physician, Dr. Albert Cole, hastily improvised the incubator, a metal and glass crib heated by kerosene lamps, and placed me in it. For mearly a month, life hung by a slender thread. But when I was taken out of it I soon made up for the lost time. I developed into a busy little girl, "Dorothy was in such a rush to start making things that she couldn't wait to be born."