BORN: July 7, 1958 - Monday - 5:38 a.m.
Leominster, Massachusetts USA
6 lbs. 12 oz. - 19 1/2 inches long
Breech birth - fanny first

Our doctor checked to see if hips were alright. Said he had soft bones and he probably would not be an early walker. Joey took first step the day before he was 9 months old.

I had morning sickness that started about the sixth week of pregnancy and lasted for six weeks. Wasn't anemic this time. Pregnancy was normal. Breech birth. Joey was named after his Dad, a Junior.

Joey was almost bald at birth, blond fuzz all over his head. He looked just like his Great-grandfather Henry Oscar Girouard, so we called him "Little Peppe".

He was born while Rose was still in the body cast and we put him on the tray that was in front of her homemade carriage, to take their pictures. Rose got all excited and flipped the tray up - spilling Joey on the floor. She shrieked with glee, but Joey didn't think it was so funny; he wasn't hurt. He was about a month old.

Favorite toys were always lights, wheels, and tools. Dad made a box with many lights inside it; they went off and on. Joey could turn the lights off and on with a switch. He loved that little box and it went everywhere with him. Having an inquisitive mind, Joey was always trying to see what made the box "tick". Dad made it indestructible, but Joey found a way...he threw it into a pail of water!

Grandpa Taylor gave Joey a horsey with wheels, to ride on, when he was about 1 1/2 years old. Joey didn't ride on it...he tipped it upside down and spun the wheels round and round.

Joey was always into everything; he didn't seem to mind the danger or the consequences...he liked to have fun!

One day, when we lived on the second floor of a house, I sent Rose and Joey outside to play in the yard - Mike was a newborn baby. A little later Rose came upstairs and said, "Joey fall down". I said, "Tell him to get up and he will be okay". She came back later..."Joey can't get up." So, I ran outside. Sure enough, he had laid down on one of the steps and fallen off it. I asked Rose, "Which one?" She said, "That one, way up there." The wind was knocked out of him. I called our doctor, Dr. Cummings; he stopped his office hours and came right over. Joey was okay.

He had migraine headaches during the teen years...always seemed to be triggered off by chocolate - but, that didn't stop him from eating lots of it. He would spend all his allowance on chocolate bars and eat all of them right away, thinking we would never know about it - but, then he came down with a headache and went to bed. One time he stole a chocolate bar from a corner store. The owner ran after him and caught him. It was something that he really craved.

Joey had a paper route and was able to buy himself a bicycle. He was industrious, but was never able to save anything (like most of us!).

Fishing was always his favorite way to spend time, and he was an excellent fisherman - always catching them, when nobody else could. He always caught the "big ones"!

Joey found a gold watch; we had him bring it into the police station. Nobody had reported one lost, but they had to keep it for one year before it would officially belong to him. A year later, Joey went down to the station and got it.

He had all childhood diseases or shots to protect - including the mumps shot.