Growing Myself Up: A Journey from Orphanage to Freedom

"e;I don't wish my children to be adopted out to anyone at all."e; Regina Fox Dodge's mother wrote these words to her oldest daughter shortly before Regina was born. Two years later, the 43-year-old mother died, leaving her husband with eight children to raise during the Great Depression. The mother's plan was carried out shortly after she died. Regina's 19-year-old brother and 16-year-old sister took the four younger sisters, Marjorie, age 11, Ruth Elaine, age 8, Virginia, age 4, and Regina, age 2, to a Catholic orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado. Regina details life at the orphanage where a tender touch was not allowed but spanking was an art.