Before I was Born

I was born a poor black boy in east Texas. Wait no, that’s the opening line from the movie the Jerk with Steve Martin.

My Dad was Charlie Claus. My mom was Irene Claus. When my mom became pregnant with me, she was 38 years old. Back in 1947 when I was born, it was pretty rare for a woman that age to get pregnant and carry the child to term.

When I was born, I had 3 siblings. Joe was the oldest. He was 18, and had just gotten back from the Navy. I’m pretty sure he enlisted when he was 16 to fight in WWII.  Wanda was 15 at the time I was born. Ted was 9 when I was born.

When my mom found out she was pregnant with me, we lived in Kilgore Texas.

Momma and Daddy told Wanda that if she would help out around the house before  I was born, and help out with the baby after I was born, she could pick the name for the baby.

Wanda readily agreed, and told them since our last name is Claus, and we don’t have anyone with the name Santa in our family, if it’s a boy I want him to be named Santa.

You have to remember this was before doctors could tell you the sex of the baby before it was born. So I had a 50% chance of being Santa Claus at birth. I don’t think I ever asked Wanda what the girl’s name would have been. Maybe Sandra?