OK, what do these towns have in common?
May 9, 2008 | Nostalgia
Brenda, Tony, Carmen, Ben & Maria are the only ones allowed to chime in here:)
What do these towns have in common?
Warner Robbins
Byron
Macon
Sacramento
Birmingham
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17 Responses to “OK, what do these towns have in common?”
I am allowed to chime in, because I am the Matriarch here. I get Warner Robins, Sacramento, and Birmingham, but not Byron and Macon. Although the mere mention of Macon brings back a flood of happy memories to me.
By mother on May 9, 2008
Mom,
You above all can’t chime in…. you know everything about these towns….
By Bud on May 10, 2008
born in is what I come up with
By brenda on May 10, 2008
That is all i figured too. Were we all born in these cities. But, wouldn’t mom know this? Are we wrong? If so, give us a clue.
By carmen on May 10, 2008
I sure don’t know what you’re getting at, Bill. The Polhemus children lived in ALL of those towns, but the Pagan children only lived in four of them. (That is, counting little baby Brenda, who was brought to Byron when she was born). That really doesn’t say anything. No, I can’t guess the answer.
By mother on May 10, 2008
He’s not Bill. I am Bill. He is Buddy.
I can understand the confusion, though, with all these kids…
By bill on May 11, 2008
Oh, and I don’t think Carmen’s correct, because no one was born in Byron, GA. Brenda was born in Warner Robbins, at the AFB hospital.
In fact, no kid was born in Macon. By my count, four kids were born in Birmingham, one in Charlotte, NC, one in Sacramento, CA, and one in Germany. Plus one in Maryland.
Mom spread the wealth around.
By bill on May 11, 2008
No child was born in Charlotte. I became with child in Charlotte (Beth). She would have been born there had we stayed. Pop had drawn up the plans for a beautiful three-bedroom home for us. Bill had applied for a $20,000 loan to buy the property and build the home in a brand new area that had just opened up in Charlotte. Lansdowne. The loan came through just as we split. Just another part of the sadness of it all. Instead of a lovely home, we ended up in Elyton village in the housing for po’ folks. Our rent was $16.00 a month.
Yep, Bill. I spread the wealth around. That’s so funny.
Today, I feel very, very wealthy. I really do. How lucky can one woman get!!
Thanks for all of the Happy Mother’s Day greetings!! And the gifts, as well!!
I just noticed that it was Bud that wrote the post.
By mother on May 11, 2008
PLEASE, BUD! What DO these towns have in common, other than the fact that the Polhemus children lived in all of them?
By mother on May 11, 2008
We became the Pagan Family in Warner Robbins and had homes together as 1 family in all these towns.
Brenda was born in Warner Robbins
We moved together and lived at the Boy Scout Camp in Byron w/ Pop
We moved to Macon and joined the Church and awaited Dad to come home from Thailand.
We packed up and moved out to Sacramento where Tony was born and returned to the South to Birmingham to bring in Carmen, Ben & Maria…..
By Bud on May 11, 2008
Bud: Good job!
Mom: I’m sorry, I thought Lainie was born in Charlotte. Where WAS she born? Not Midland!
(That would have made a funny taunt: “Lainie is a Michigander! Lainie is a Michigander!” She used to be so easy to rile up, as Mother will certainly recall…)
By bill on May 11, 2008
Okay, here’s the whole travelogue from what I can recall. Mom, please verify:
P.C., Florida -> Aberdeen P.G., MD -> Germany (Stuttgart and, what, Munich?) -> P.C., FL (again) -> Huntsville, AL -> Midland, MI -> Charlotte, NC -> Birmingham, AL -> Warner Robbins, GA -> Byron, GA -> Macon, GA -> Sacramento (North Highlands, actually), CA -> Birmingham, AL…
And then I guess the whole thing fell apart, everyone going every which-way…
I can still remember how “depressed” I was when we left California. Just couldn’t understand why we couldn’t stay there forever. At least BUDDY and I loved it to death out there!
I guess 8 and 10 year old boys just didn’t have the pull back in those days.
By bill on May 11, 2008
Bill,
Mom and I were talking about Lainie’s journey just a couple of months ago. You should recall that we were in ‘Spain in August’ of 1960… Mom fondly recalls that as the place Lainie was conceived and the last really ‘Happy’ moments we had as a family. After that were the deaths of Mom’s Mom Mimi, Dad’s Dad Polly and then the family splitup before Beth was born in B’ham.
We were stationed at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville that April of 61 when Lainie was born.
Obviously there is a difference between being the history buff of the family and the history buff about the family. I wouldn’t have known most of this without prodding Mom to recall it as best she could.
Anyway the main factor of these towns was the birth of the Pagan family without which most of us (at least the Polhemus Boys) would probably have had several years of prison time in our past:)
By Bud on May 12, 2008
Excellent, Bud. I never thought of that. Bill, you almost got the travelogue right. It goes like this: Your dad and I left Opelika, AL. and split up. I stayed in Macon, and he headed up to Aberdeen. Then I joined him in Aberdeen. We went from there to Panama City, and then traveled north to Birmingham (where my parents were now living) and said goodbye to them, and traveled on to New York, where we dropped off the car to be delivered to Germany, and we boarded the plane. We landed in Frankfort…took a train to our new home in Munich. Then to Stuttgart. Then to Huntsville…to Midland, Mich. to Charlotte to Birmingham – to Macon – to Warner Robbins – to Byron – to California – and on to Birmingham. The rest everyone else knows. We had a choice of several places to go. We fasted and prayed very diligently about it. We could stay in California. Go and live in Salt Lake City.
Go to Puerto Rico. Or go home to Pop. We then went to our Bishop, and asked him to pray over it also. He called us in the next day, and he said, “go home to Alabama.” And so we did. Would we have been better off if we had gone to Salt Lake City?
By mother on May 15, 2008
Oh, I know you made the right choice, Mom. I was just giving you the perspective of the ten year old kid that you had to put up with at that time.
We (myself definitely, and I think Buddy) really loved it in North Highlands where we lived at that time. The Church was large (and growing), and the ward was very active. We liked our school, had lots of friends, the area was still fairly rural (trending to suburban), the mountains were nearby, we used to go to Lake Folsom to swim and picnic, etc.
I’m sure the Lord needed you and Dad in Birmingham, to help build the Kingdom there. I have no problem with it.
That ten-year-old kid did, but I don’t.
By bill on May 16, 2008
I just wonder if our family would have stayed stronger in the church if we had stayed put in California, or chosen to go to Salt Lake City. We had such a beautiful little home in California, and there would have been no problem at all for luis to get a civilian job. We were already settled there.
Pop was absolutely the ONLY reason we went to Birmingham, and then at the very end of his life, I literally deserted him, something I will regret to the end of my days. I guess there are burdens on our shoulders, Bill, that we will always carry, no matter how deeply repentant we may be. I know Daddy has forgiven me, but I’ll be so glad when I can tell him so face to face, and hug him, and tell him how very much I love him.
And then I remember that there is one thing that I could do for him, and for our family. I knelt in the Atlanta Temple, and sealed myself and my brother, Buddy, to my parents. I know Buddy taught Daddy the Priesthood.
You know those photos that my cousin, Babs, sent to me recently? Well, I told you I was sitting at the kitchen table daydreaming and missing my parents, when Luis walked in and handed me the envelope with those pictures. I talked to Babs the other night, and on close examination, (and I have since enlarged them to 8X10’s) they were taken right there on Laguna Beach in the very cottage that my parents and Alex and I lived in in 1955. One is a perfect picture of Uncle Frank, and Daddy Mac, sitting under a Palm Tree, and the white dirt road in front leading down to Highway 98, and the ocean visible in the distance. Also in the same photo is Alex and Pop. Also Buck, and little cousin, Cherry, and my cousin Don (7) who is Babs’ brother. Another photo is on our back porch of Mama Mac
and Aunt Nell, (holding little Mary Beth, Babs’ baby sister), and me.
Talk about Nostalgia.
By mother on May 16, 2008
Bill, I have tried to “edit” my comments, and I haven’t had success. So I have to correct with another comment.
Buddy didn’t “teach Daddy the Priesthood.” I believe Buddy was the missionary, who taught his father the Plan of Salvation, or the Gospel. And then, of course, Daddy was given the choice of whether he would accept the ordinances that were done for him in the temple. Luis was his proxy, and since Daddy died on 1 November, 1979, I am sure that if I check, i will find that his work was done pretty close to one year later.
By mother on May 16, 2008