Tiger Beat - April 1970

The Day Bobby Faced Death
By his older sister Darlene

Now, the for the first time anywhere, an exclusive story from Bobby's childhood by his older sister Darlene.  In her own words, Darlene tells you of the Sherman family's great anticipation at Bobby's arrival and the tragic day they nearly lost Bobby...

I remember when my mother told me I would have a baby brother or sister, like it was yesterday!  We were in the kitchen and Mom was fixing dinner and I was sitting at the kitchen table.  You can't imagine how happy I was with the news, because this was the one thing I had always asked for, a baby brother.  I knew that my baby would be a boy, if he hadn't of been I really don't know what I would have done!

It seemed that the next six months went by so slowly.  Mom and I went out and bought baby clothes and everything that my parents did for the preparation of the coming event I was included on.  I guess they thought that I might feel upset or left out of things with a new baby around and the age difference between us.  They really made me feel very needed for the baby's arrival.

JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS - When the day finally arrived you would have thought Christmas was here as far as I was concerned.  I wanted to go to the hospital too, but of course I was too young, so the lady next door came in to sit with me.  When I say sit I mean sit, I wouldn't leave the telephone because my Dad said he would call me as soon as the baby was born.   That was the longest day and night I'd ever spent in my life.

Finally around ten or eleven o'clock the phone rang and it was my Dad and he said "Darl, you have a brother!"  All I could do was cry.  Then I had to wait ten days before I could see him, that seemed longer than the six months waiting for him to arrive.

LIKED NAME ROBERT - One afternoon when Dad was going to the hospital to visit with Mom, he took me along.  On our way over he asked me if I liked the name Robert for the baby.  I asked him if the baby was going to be named after him, Robert Cabot.  He said yes if I liked it.   Well it was fine with me.

We got to the hospital and Dad said to look up at the third floor to the second window to the left, and there was Mom!  She opened the window and I asked her how she felt and how was Bobby and when were they coming home.  Mom said in the morning.  I didn't sleep at all that night, I was so excited!  As soon as I saw sun light coming through the window I went in and woke Dad up and said, "Let's go get Mom and Bobby!"  He looked at his watch and said, "It's only 5:30!"   So I went back to my room and waited some more.

CUTEST AND LITTLEST BABY - At ten o'clock we got in the car to pick them up.  I'll never forget when the nurse wheeled Mom out of the hospital in a wheel chair and my Dad was behind them holding what I thought was just a blanket.  I got out of the car and hugged Mom and asked where Bobby was and Dad said, "Here he is, Darlene," and he opened up the blanket and I saw the cutest and littlest baby I had ever seen.  He had a lot of black hair and his eyes were big and dark.

Mom got in the car and I slid in beside her and to my surprise my Dad handed the baby to me.  All I could think was, "He's mine, all mine."   Mom said she wanted to stop at a drive-in to have lunch before going home so we did.  They asked me what I wanted to eat and I said nothing.  I didn't want to give up holding the baby.  They ordered me something but I don't remember what it was because I didn't eat it even though Mom said I could still hold Bobby.  I just stared at him and held him close.  He was so warm and cuddly.

When we got home I asked Mom if I could carry Bobby in the house, she said yes but be very careful.  I got in the house and sat down on the sofa and just looked at this little baby that was all mine.  Mom said, "Darlene, why don't you put Bobby down and when he wakes up you can give him his bottle."  I put him in his crib and sat on the floor next to him and watched all the motions that all little babies make.  I wondered then what he would grow up to be and then I thanked God for sending him to us.

Mom let me do everything for Bobby.  I got pretty good at making formulas and I was a pro at changing diapers.  I was determined to do as much as I possibly could do for him.  When my friends asked if they could see Bobby, I said sure but they would have to wash their hands first.  Then I let them go as far as Bobby's bedroom door with their hands behind their backs.

BLACK PATCH OF HAIR - Bobby's crib was on the opposite side of the room and all the kids could see of him was a black patch of hair sticking out from under a blanket.  But I didn't want him to catch any germs.  Mom would stand back and watch all of us with a big grin and I often wondered why she was grinning because I was very serious about the whole thing.   Of course, I know now why she was grinning, and I'm even grinning when I write about it.

When Bobby was a couple of months old I realized that he recognized me by voice and sight.  He would always smile and start kicking.  It was a wonder that Bobby wasn't a spoiled baby, but he was such a happy baby when he wasn't sleeping.  I got to take him for walks in his carriage.  When I think about it, Mom was very lenient, letting me do the things for Bobby and taking him outside for hours.  But she always said she trusted me taking care of him before she would trust anyone else.   Her only complaint was she didn't get to take care of him until he was two months old!  That's when I started back to school and she had complete charge of him until I got home, then Bobby was mine again.

I PUSHED STROLLER - When Bobby was about eleven months old, one sunny afternoon Mom decided to go to the store to do some marketing.  So with Bobby in his stroller and me pushing him, the three of us took off for the store.  When we arrived I asked Mom if I could push Bobby around outside while she was in the store.  She said sure.

The grocery store's parking lot was located about five feet below the level of the store and it had a ramp up to the store's door with a metal railing on both sides of the ramp.  I stopped and put the brake on Bobby's stroller and I got up on the railing and sat there watching the cars go in and out of the parking lot.

The next thing I knew, people that were in the parking lot area were running towards me and hollering, "the baby!"  I looked down at Bobby but he wasn't in his stroller.  Then I looked down at the parking lot just below where I was sitting.  Bobby lay face down!  I screamed and ran to him.  In the meantime, somebody that knew my mother went in the store to look for her.

BOBBY WASN'T MOVING - Mother came running out and a friend had picked Bobby up and was getting into a car.  All I could think of was that Bobby was dead, because he wasn't moving and he looked so white.   Mom and I got in the car and we sped off to the doctor's office.  I was crying and so was Mom.  After what seemed to be an eternity, Bobby moved around and opened his big blue eyes and smiled.  We got to the doctor's office and he took Bobby into the X-ray room.  We found out that he had a broken collar bone.  The doctor set his arm and put it in a cast.

I felt like the whole thing had been my fault for not keeping my eyes on him, but the lady that took us to the doctor's office said she had seen the accident happen.  She said that Bobby had reached up to the bottom metal railing and pulled himself right out of the stroller.  She said it all happened so quickly that nobody could have prevented it from happening.  We all just thanked God that Bobby was okay.

Bobby had to wear the cast for six weeks and he was a little doll even though it was so big and bulky.  He wasn't supposed to crawl around or try to use his arm, so Mom would put him in a cardboard box, so he wouldn't go anywhere.

That was Bobby's first major accident and when the cast was removed you wouldn't have thought that anything had happened to him at all.  He used his arm without any complaints.  And I was relieved that our beautiful baby was alright once more.