"I think the American Dream says that anything can happen . . .

 . . . if you work hard enough at it and are persistent and have some ability.  The sky is the limit to what you can build, and what can happen to you and your family."          - -Sanford I. Weill


     "Even though immigrating to the United States and leaving England was very difficult for me, I think Maureen, Barbara, and Darryl all had opportunities in the States that they would not have had in England.  Here, they all went to and completed college, as did Aunty Glady's three girls, Susan, Karen, and Diane.  I don't think my three, nor Glady's three would've had the chance to go to college if we'd stayed in England where there were definite class distinctions even after the war.  You were either working class, middle class, or upper class, and it took a lot to pull oneself up out of the working class; it was darn near impossible.  I'm not sure we would've ever owned our own home in England had we stayed."
                                                                                                          --Joan Shelton

Bit of history:  Class distinction in England historically has included, ". . . a very wealthy and powerful upper class that owns and controls the means of production; a middle class of professional workers, small business owners, and low-level managers; and a lower class, who rely on low-paying wage jobs for their livelihood and often experience poverty."

     "Up until the outbreak of war in 1939, British society had retained a rigid class structure, with the educated middle and upper classes tending to believe in their own moral and cultural superiority over the working classes. Proper models of behaviour were seen to emanate from this section of society, including correct pronunciation, table manners, appropriate dress and even the courting of wedding partners. With few exceptions, the holders of power and authority came from an upper class background and had a public [private] school education. They saw themselves as the guardians of culture, and those lower down the social order seldom questioned their position. It was a social and cultural hierarchy that was largely self-policed, with members of different classes rarely willing or able to move to alternative social groupings. It was expected that people would conform to the values of their peer group, and any attempt to transcend this hierarchy was restricted by social convention."

Maureen standing in front of the first home we owned in the United States

     "In 1961 we purchased our first home in the United States on Holland Drive in Statesville, NC.
Darryl was born shortly after on January 30, 1962 at Iredell Hospital in Statesville.  He was the first of my three children born in a hospital and not at home which turned out to be a blessing as he was born with a condition known as Rh-induced hemolytic disease.  Rh incompatibility is a condition that develops when a pregnant woman has Rh-negative blood which I had and the baby in her womb has Rh-positive blood, which Darryl had.
                                                                              --Joan Shelton

Darryl Franklin Shelton, born January 30, 1962

Bit of information:  "During pregnancy, red blood cells from the unborn baby can cross into the mother's bloodstream through the placenta.

     If the mother is Rh-negative, her immune system treats Rh-positive fetal cells as if they were a foreign substance and makes antibodies against the fetal blood cells. These anit-Rh antibodies may cross back through the placenta into the developing baby and destroy the baby's circulating red blood cells. 

     When red blood cells are broken down, they make bilirubin.  This causes an infant to become yellow (jaundiced).  The level of bilirubin in the infant's bloodstream may range from mild to dangerously high." 

   

   


     "Today this problem can be prevented with injections to the mother during pregnancy, but the first injection for this condition wasn't given until 1964.  Before 1964 an exchange transfusion was preformed which involves slowly removing the patient's blood and replacing it with fresh donor blood or plasma.  Darryl had an exchange transfusion before coming home from the hospital.  Both he and Mom stayed in the hospital for a week."

Barbara, Joan, and Darryl in the  den at
Holland  Drive

Barbara feeding Darryl

Maureen, who was 11 at the time, remembers:
    "I was called out of class over the intercom by the prinicpal.  When I got to his office, he said Dad had called to say I had a baby brother.  I was not old enough to go up to the hospital as you had to be 12."