[Granville-Hough] 22 Jan 2009 - David's 60th Birthday

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

They still have dreadful ice storms in Oklahoma in January but my enthusiasm
for winter mountaineering had abated long before my father wrote this:


Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:02:52 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: 22 Jan 2009 - David's 60th Birthday


FIRST CHILD
    As I recall it, and I am the only one who can, Carol and I made
careful plans for our first child to be born at Fort Sill, OK.  I
borrowed a car from my friend, West Point roommate and classmate, and
wedding best man, Ray Gilbert, as soon as Carol began to have sensations
or indications that birth was approaching; and I took Carol to Fort Sill
Hospital.  We were very lucky on our way as a storm had started and we
got there without accident.  Carol went into labor and after what seemed
to be a long time, David Granville Hough was born.  In those days there
was no way to determine whether a child would be male or female, so we
were very pleased that our first child was male.  I got to see David
through the glass window and talk a bit with Carol to congratulate her.
Of course, David was the most beautiful little fellow we had ever seen.
    I got home in Lawton in the storm which continued on and on.  It was
not rain, not snow, but hard sleet.  Before the storm was over, we had
seven inches of it.  Seven inches of sleet, and temperatures in the
twenties.  I cannot recall how many times I was able to get to the
hospital to see Carol and David, but I do recall the trip home with them
on the sleet-covered road.  We had no chains, and the road surface was
the most slippery I have ever been on. I moved along at about 10 miles
per hour and finally got to our home in Lawton.  I got Carol and David
into our house and into bed, and Carol found she had no milk for
breast-feeding David, and he began to cry from hunger.  I went into the
kitchen and found we had two pork chops.  I salted and breaded those
pork chops and cooked them according to a recipe that I vaguely recalled
from reading a book by Charles Lamb.  I do not recall what vegetables I
had but there was milk and bread.
    When I brought the food into the bedroom, Carol found she was very,
very hungry and ate it all, while I held and consoled David.  Then,
after an hour or two, she suddenly had milk and she fed a hungry David,
and they had a restful night.  I could actually walk to the nearest
grocery store without risking driving; and I was able to get food, and I
tried cooking various things.  Carol never complained.  Though she never
had much milk, David got enough to survive until we could begin
supplementing breast milk with other special preparations.
    So that is how I became a father in the most terrible sleet storm I
have ever seen; and it may be why David loves to hike in the high
Sierras where rain, snow, and sleet are commonplace.
So I would say about David's 60 years what was first recorded in Psalm
37:23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and He
delighteth in his way."