Episode Ten: Young Shirley

My mother Shirley is born April 22, 1922, an only child with parents who are unable to give her much love. They live in Lombard, Illinois, outside of Chicago. Her mother, Faye, is the daughter of a genius inventor and a chicken farmer. Perhaps she has married Pops on the rebound, having lost a love in World War I, or so my mother thinks. Intellectually, Faye has married beneath her. She is unhappy and bitter. She often takes it out on Shirley.

Shirley at about age 6 with Comfy, one of many

dogs that passed through the Eclov household.

Faye trained as a classical pianist at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, but never plays the piano even though they own one. All of her talents have shriveled, and she is now an unhappy homemaker.

Shirley is a smart, beautiful girl, always told to hide her intellect so she will be able to attract a husband. When she graduates from high school as the valedictorian, Hjalmar doesn’t attend. He is callous that way. In a letter to a distant cousin in 1987, Shirley says, “I make him (Hjalmar) sound insensitive, and he was. But he was also a most engaging, funny, gregarious man.”

Four years of Shirley's honor roll ribbons.

One year at the annual spring festival in Lombard, Shirley at age 10 has a role as a dancing elf. The stage is backed by a thick curving row of shrubs. Before the performance, Faye and Hjalmar raise objections because they want Shirley to wear a sweater over her costume. The event organizer refuses. Shirley doesn’t feel the cold at all.

Shirley and her friends dance onto the stage and finally each sits on a fake toadstool, facing the crowd, their backs to the shrubs. The rest of the program commences. After about 10 minutes, Shirley hears rustling behind her.

“Pssst! Pssst!” Is that my father?

Suddenly two arms are thrust through the shrubbery, and just as suddenly Shirley is yanked off her toadstool and pulled backward through the bush to find her parents waiting to steal her away home. Her arms and legs are covered with bloody scratches.

What other humiliations are in story for Shirley?