Preschool for Gordon

In January 1981, Gordon started preschool at Deanne Darger's. It was in her home and highly recommended. Gordon enjoyed it very much and I think it was an excellent program. It occurs to me now that in January of '81, Gordon was less than 3 1/2 years old! I suppose she also ran one of the few programs that would accept younger children. He went to her preschool for 1 1/2 years.

In March 1982, I went to pick Gordon up from preschool and "...Donnie (Sister Darger's daughter) was out front watching for something and I couldn't tell if she was sobbing or out of breath. I went in, and Elane [sic] Palmer, one of the kids' mothers, was watching the kids. So I collected Gordon and left, and on my way out a woman came up to Donnie and said, "They're on their way," and went on in. So I caught her and asked "What happened?" As it turned out, Donnie's baby Natalie fell into the pool, and they were trying to revive her. The paramedics drove up just then, and I started to leave. But the police blocked the exit, so I went back in. Deanne was crying, saying she must have slipped out the door that was always locked. As it turned out, she was revived but I didn't find out until much later. I had to leave--the police had moved and the helicopter was coming. Anyway, Natalie is still in bad shape; the amount of permanent damage is not yet known. I hate swimming pools." [excerpted from the family journal]

As time passed, it became clear that Natalie suffered significant permanent brain damage. The incident made a lasting and horrifying impression on me. And as we came to know of more drowning (Pospisil's niece) and near-drowning (Chris Broadbent) incidents, I became more committed to swimming lessons and never owning a pool. I gave in on the pool years later--but that's another story.