St. Clair Shores Resident, Pat O'Connor, turns 90! Born during a car crash in 1923.

Happy 90th Birthday Aunt Pat!

March 8th is a huge milestone in my family.  My sweet Aunt Pat turns 90.  And while the fact that she is joining the Nonagenarian Club is something to celebrate, the story of her birth is what makes her birthday even more interesting.

My Grandmother gave birth to her on the streets of Detroit during a car crash. 

The story even ended up on the front-page news of the Detroit evening newspaper, The Detroit Times.  On Saturday, I visited the Detroit Public Library and found the microfilm of the newspaper. 

The day was March 8, 1923.  The car was still relatively a new device.  The newspaper refers to the car as “a machine”.  It was the beginning of the roaring 20s and flappers were the rage.  The newspaper features advertising with Spring’s latest fashions and “dresses of vivid charm to enhance the slender willowy grace of their wearers”.  Priced at $36.50 to $95, I’m a bit shocked at how these prices are pretty close to something you can find today at Macy’s.

My family tells the story that as my Grandmother’s contractions began, my Grandfather’s Dodge wouldn’t start.  So they called a cab.  On the rush to the hospital, the cab hit another car.  The story in The Detroit Times says my Grandfather drove the “machine”.  My Dad says that the reporter was wrong.  It was a cab. 

Nonetheless, the driver of the other vehicle was a Physician, Dr. T. C. Starrs –what are the odds?  Dr. Starrs attended to my Grandmother with the assistance of a nurse—who just so happened to live right where the accident occurred. 

I thank the good Doctor and nurse who delivered a healthy baby girl that fateful day 90 years ago.  My Aunt Pat grew to become a wonderful woman who attended St. Martin’s High School and St. Mary’s Commercial School of Detroit and married Herb Brogan.  After being widowed only a few years later, she moved to California and then back to Michigan.  She later married Mike O’Connor and raised two children.  They lived in Grosse Pointe and eventually settled in St. Clair Shores, where my Aunt Pat still resides independently.  Aunt Pat is sharp and quick-witted and I think she can probably still shoot the lowest score on the golf course. 

Reading through the pages of a Detroit newspaper from 1923 was a thrill for me.  I highly recommend this historical trip.  There’s a deep connection you feel when you scroll the microfilm page by page and watch a snapshot of a day in time.  The Detroit Public Library is on Woodward, across the street from the DIA.