Happy Birthday Charlie!

The big day was a Monday. It was December 16, 1946. Charles Richard joined the Armga family. Dad [Larry H.] was in the hallway while mother [Betty Ruth] gave birth. At home, (probably with Grandma and Papa, or perhaps Aunt Lu came to sit with the children) were LuAnn, age 4 and Lawrence, age 3. I don't know of any special connection to the name that he was given except I imagine this was the first "musical" name that mother prided herself on giving to her children (LuAnn's name was decided by Grandma [Emma] and Larry Jr. was simply named after Dad).

From the beginning this third child was unique. First of all, he was beautiful. He had a round cherubic face and startling blue eyes (think Paul Newman blue). LuAnn also remembers that his lashes were beautifully long and dark and framed his eyes in a way that made them especially striking. His hair grew in blond and with a soft curl. His complexion was perfect and he tanned beautifully when exposed to the sun.

Most unique about this child was his boundless energy and curiosity. And it was tinged with an impish mischievousness. He was always moving, always touching, always exploring and absolutely exhausting! One of mother's solutions to the challenge of having 3 children under the age of 4 -- with one who could perhaps have been labeled ADHD in today's diagnosis happy world -- was to tether toddler Charles Richard to a tree in the yard. When I first heard this I was absolutely shocked and scandilized! I could not believe that mother would have treated her child like a dog. And, apparently the harness and leash were also used whenever they had to go somewhere (this was pre-car years. Imagine that those of you with young children -- you had to WALK to go shopping, go to church, go to the doctor, etc.) Of course years later I met children who were so insensitive to risk that I totally understood how a parent would have to restrain the child just for the child's safety.

This child number 3 was called "Dick" through his growing up years. When he joined the Navy at a tender young age and married, he choose to become "Charles" or "Charlie". While it was so very very difficult to make that mental change in what to call my brother I never do now think of him as "Dick".

In my memories, Charlie is famous for practicing all his 'torture' techniques on me, being the one who Dad trusted to climb up into the attic to bring down the Christmas ornaments (I think he was the only one who ever went up into the attic), being gutsy and always taking risks, and being bright and curious and able to tinker to figure out how things work. In the summers he was brown as a nut with his hair bleached white. As an adult in was in his white Navy dress uniform and Dad was always so proud of him.

In the spirit of our recent survey questions of Mom and Dad I guess the following about Charlie:

favorite color: blue
favorite food: anything Satski makes
favorite place to live: Hawaii
favorite place to vacation: Japan
favorite movie: anything John Wayne
favorite sport: crawling around under houses
favorite vocation: moving irrigation pipe on farms as an adolescent
favorite memory: spending time on Jean and Walker's farm
biggest accomplishment: becoming a non-commissioned officer in the Navy

Okay Charlie, how did I do?
Have a Happy 63rd Birthday! We love you and are grateful to have you in our family!