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34. Edna

Throughout their married life together, Alphy and Margurita had nine healthy children. Each of them was born at home, all delivered by Mary Anne (the family called her Memé — Acadian for Nanny). During all of her pregnancies, Margurita was seen by a doctor only once, that exception being when she was expecting her seventh child.

In the fall of 1937, Margurita and Alphy were expecting their second child. On December 9, 1937 Margurita gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. The newborn daughter was small, but healthy. Margurita wanted to name her Eileen. Alphy expressed that he really wasn’t fond of that name. The couple decided to name her Edna instead, as it was a name that both Alphy and Margurita agreed on.

LeRoy looked at the new baby. He didn’t know what to think of her. LeRoy was only seventeen months old, and Edna must have seemed like a doll to him. As time went on, LeRoy and Edna would become close playmates for each other.

Edna grew to be a beautiful girl. She had a fair complexion, with dark brown hair. Her most striking feature was her eyes —they shone a beautiful shade of green. Edna had a very gentle personality.

When Edna was approximately two years old, she wandered off in the back yard by herself. Margurita suddenly noticed that Edna was no longer in the front yard playing. She dashed to the rear of the home, behind the forge. Her heart became gripped with fear when she saw Edna, who was sitting on the ground playing quietly. She had picked a most dangerous place to squat, directly behind the hoofs of a huge horse. The horse’s owner had gone into the forge to see Alphy. The horse was standing quietly outside waiting for his master.

Margurita approached very cautiously, as she did not want to scare the horse for fear that he would kick. She reached Edna and

picked her up in her arms. Margurita gave a sigh of relief and hugged her daughter tightly.

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