Journal Article — Mom and Dad’s Waltz: A Dance of Love and Sacrifice — by Rena Dangerfield

I was born in 1951 in Peru, Indiana, to Martha Mary and Wallace Dangerfield, the sixth of seven children, and the fourth daughter. Due to the fact that there is a twenty years’ difference between my oldest and youngest siblings, there were only my sisters Vicki and Rita and me at home until my little brother was born in 1958. My oldest brother Tom had joined the Navy straight out of high school and was married and starting his own family shortly after. My next oldest brother, Larry, was honorably discharged from the Navy when he was discovered to be nearly deaf in one ear after only being in for a few weeks. He married shortly after being discharged. My oldest sister, Jane, was thrown out of the house when I was very young; I only remember her leaving, never living there. My sister Rita, the middle child, got out of the house as soon as she could by marrying the husband of the woman she baby-sat for. Most of my childhood memories of home revolve around Mom and Dad, Vicki, Rick, and me in the brick house in the tiny town of North Grove, Indiana.