Irene M. Stearns 1951

Irene - who was never called Ruth, as that was her mother's name - was a tall, funny but shy young girl. She was an only child who longed to have a big brother. As an army brat, she moved constantly and had trouble making friends. She was born in a naval hospital after her pregnant mother barely made it to shore, having sailed from the Philippines where her husband was a Marine lawyer. In her first few years, Irene lived in SC, GA, Washington DC, Omaha NE, Hawaii, China and the Philippines. She and her mother were evacuated from the PI just before the Japanese invaded, and they went to live with her mother's parents in Yonkers NY, where she lived from age 11 until after she graduated college (she was a day student at College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx.