My Son Jimbo
For those who never knew him …

Babe (continued)

[Written by Jimbo's sister Sherry]

Announcements

Even before Jimbo was born, he was making his mark. I remember how Mom let us five kids know that we would be getting another family member. She created a combination cryptogram-treasure hunt. Each clue was in the form of a cryptogram that we had to solve before we could read it. Then, having read it, we had to solve the puzzle of where the next clue was hidden. 

The final message, once translated was a poem that focused, one couplet at a time, on each of our birthdays, which came (respectively) in May, July, February, March, and June. I don’t remember any of the first five couplets, but I remember the punch line of the last one: “But wait’ll you see the crazy April showers next year!” 

Even more unusual was how Mom let friends in the community know. Every Halloween, the country club we belonged to (Manor Country Club) held a big costume party for all members. Mom and Dad, sometimes with a group of friends, routinely won, with her creative ideas and outlandish execution. 

In October 1960, six months before Jimbo’s due date, Mom made a 4×4-foot “brick wall” out of cardboard, painted with bricks, just thick enough for her to stand inside of and hold up by two handles attached to the inside. Dad of course went as the “brick-layer.”

And that’s how she announced her pregnancy to the world.

Tags: announcement, jimbo, Manor Country Club