Childhood Awakening (1952 – 1964)

I was born in Detroit, Michigan at 5:32 AM on July 18, 1952. My parents were Dorothea Marie Kienbaum and Frank Joseph Van Hove. I was born in the hospital, premature by one month. For years I’d remembered being kept in an incubator for a long time, but turns out I was only in isolation for a day or so (though it must have seemed like an eternity to a new-born baby). Because my mother’s breast milk wasn’t coming through, I was formula-fed.

When I was born, my mother lived with her mother Louise Kienbaun while my father was in the service during the Korean War. My father was not present for my birth, but came on leave shortly thereafter to visit. I always wondered if this was the source of his ulcer worrying about us when he was away.

Both my parents were very happy and loved me very much. After a year or so at my grandmother’s house, my parents bought their first little box house in Madison Heights for $3,000, a two-bedroom, square-framed tiny hovel (for the Van Hoves which means “dwellers on a farm”) on 1/4 acre lot.

When my sister was born four years later, we shared a room in that little house. I was very happy to have a baby sister. Her name was Kathy. There weren’t many other children in the neighborhood, and only one boy my age, David Mitty. It was good to have my sister around and I took care of her when she was a baby, although she didn’t play much until she was older.