10A English 2nd Period ~ Central High School – West Allis, WI
April 12, 1946
I was born on Wednesday, February 4, 1931, at Wausau, Wisconsin. My parents were sort of hoping for a boy and had a boy’s name picked out. After some sudden deliberation, since I was a girl, they decided to name me Nancy Leigh Dawn.
When I was nine weeks old, on the way from Wausau to West Allis, I was in an automobile accident. My Father received a serious compound fracture of his right wrist and my Mother and I were badly shaken. Because the accident was caused by negligence of the other party, we began court action. Two trials followed–the first in Circuit Court, then an appeal on a technicality to the State Supreme Court in which the decision was reversed, and then another trial in Circuit Court. We finally won the case.
Accident - Monday, April 13, 1931 – Wausau Daily Record-Herald (p. 1) - “Five Injured When Cars Collide Near Mosinee Yesterday” - ...Mr. and Mrs. Walter Polzin of West Allis were probably the most seriously injured. Mr. Polzin sustained a fracture to his right arm, a dislocation to the arm and a cut above the left eye...
After the trials we returned to West Allis. When I was sixteen months old, it was necessary for my Mother to have an operation for a goiter. Since there was no one with whom to leave me here, she went to Wausau to have the operation. My Father joined us and we lived at Wausau with my grandparents through most of the depression. During this time, when I was two years old, I had whooping cough. I was very proud of the quarantine sign and was constantly asking everyone, “Did you see my sign by the door outside?” I puzzled my parents because I would not go to sleep when they put me to bed in the early evening. They took me to a doctor and found out that “some babies just don’t need as much sleep as others.” So it was useless to put me in bed early.
We came back to West Allis again in 1933 and have lived here ever since. We went to the World’s Fair at Chicago in 1934 and I can remember seeing miniature cars going around a track at the Ford exhibit.
Chicago World’s Fair (1933) - 1934 - Chicago Centennial Celebration - "A Century of Progress" (1833-1933)
One time while we were in the midst of moving I threw Spotty, a stuffed dog of mine, out the window. It fell in the snow and a real dog picked it up by one ear and carried it off. My Father immediately followed the tracks in the snow and after a merry chase of about a block the dog finally dropped Spotty–minus the one ear. I had two other favorite stuffed animals. They were Felix, a yellow cat with green eyes (the last time I saw Felix packed away in the cedar chest he had one green eye and looked pretty dilapidated) and a cinnamon colored teddy bear, Herman. My first doll was named Mary Ann and had real hair which I used to use for a handle.
When I was four, I started kindergarten. The following spring I had scarlet fever. At this time, since I did not know how to read and the time in bed passed slowly, I learned to embroider. I still have my first two pieces of embroidery–a baby bedspread with a kitten wearing a plaid coat and tam, and a pillow-top with two puppies with black ears peeking over a fence.
That fall I started the first grade.
Nancy: Writing - Papers written on topics such as her family tree, Christmas, dreams, hobbies and more while attending Central High School (1945-1948).
With a Carload of Love... 