On February 20, 1897, my grandmother and her two sisters arrived into the world. Their births were a home delivery in the Ozarks in St. Clair County, Missouri, and they were named Dillie Fay, Tillie Day and Willie May McMullin. Their names were not unusual for the time, but having triplets born alive certainly was rare. The family history says that they averaged 6 pounds each (!) and that my grandmother, Willie, was the smallest. Since it was feared she would not survive, they tucked her into bed with her own grandmother, who was suffering from tuberculosis, so she could pass away comforted. Tillie died from an auto accident in 1965 at age 68, Dillie died five years later at 73, and my grandmother, who was thought to be too weak to survive, lived to be 88.
Happy Birthday!
