The night of June 24th 1939 was another in a long series of record breaking hot nights and without the benefits of air conditioning, Doris' hospital gown was soaked with sweat. The only relief was the circulating fan on the ceiling, its breeze on the wet gown had a cooling effect, but there was no reprieve from the pain that was getting worse with every contraction. "God, Oh!! GOD !!! Please help me.. Please, God, help me, I can't do this by myself." Having been raised in a Christian family, praying was a daily practice by her Mother. Doris, however, hadn't had time for all that church and Jesus, stuff recently, but she was desperate and didn't have anyone else to turn too.

The bright lights seemed to dim and the sounds in the delivery room seemed hushed. Doris with sweat pouring off her face and body was frightened. Then she saw the face of a kind, gentle, bearded man appear on the ceiling above her. His eyes were the kindest and most understanding she had ever seen.  He reached out his hand and gently stroked her fevered brow.

"Have Faith, my child.. it will be alright, just have Faith.. Have Faith. Have Faith seemed to echo around the room.  She blinked to help get the sweat out of her eyes and he was gone.

Have Faith, became a mantra that with each contraction, she would close her eyes and feel the presence of the caring man and hear the soothing voice.  Calming her tired body and spirit, "Just have Faith"..

"Push, Push, come on now, you can push harder than that," screamed Nurse Smith. "Your water broke this afternoon and an infection can set in if we don't get this baby here soon", thinking to herself that she just wanted to get finished with this delivery without having to stay very long past her normal quitting time.

When she had called the doctor two hours ago, Nurse Smith thought that because the patient was 9 cm. dilated and fully effaced, the delivery would be faster than it was. Dr. Jones wasn't happy about being called so early and having to leave his wife and a half eaten steak at the county club. He was hoping to get home in time to get a good nights' sleep before having to get up early with his wife and children to go to church.

Finally at 10:25 pm with one hard push the baby was born and was rushed away by the nurses to the nursery. Prisoners from the correctional institute that were sent to the Francis Chrisman Home for Unwed Mothers to have their babies, were not allowed to see the babies before they were adopted out. In most cases they weren't even told the sex of the child.

Doris would be returned to the girls prison on Monday morning. The family that had been eagerly waiting to adopt the baby had been called and would be there bright and early on Sunday morning to receive the gift they had waited years to get. Since they were unable to conceive, adoption was a blessing and this Sunday in particular there was a lot to give thanks for.

Doris had been given a mild sedative while the doctor stitched the episiotomy and then returned to her room. As she began to awaken, at first she didn't know where she was, then her roommate Linda asked Doris how she was feeling?  I feel like "shit" Doris said. "Too bad your boyfriend wouldn't marry you. .That would solve a lot of your problems, she said, hoping to be helpful.

"How would that help me, they took my baby and I'm being sent back to G.I.S. on Monday." " Hell, I don't even know if I had a girl or a boy", Doris replied.  Linda thought she had heard one of the nurses say the charges against Doris were  #1. Incorrigibility and  #2. Running away from home numerous times.  Linda asked her if this was accurate. "Yeah, so what", came the reply with a sigh.

"Well, if you could get your boyfriend too marry you, it's a get out of jail free card," Linda quickly whispered. Explaining further that in the state of Ohio if a person were married, no matter what their age, they are emancipated. "I'm shit out of luck there", "I haven't heard anything from Larry since he shipped out", came the reply in a burst of tears.  Jesus Christ, I don't even know if he's still alive.

Trying to be as tactful as possible, Linda asked Doris, "I don't want too hurt your feelings or anything like that, but,... is he the only one you did it with". "Now that you mention it, there was another guy, but it was only one night," she confided and went on to explain the one night at Logan Elm with Ray. When Linda pressed for more details about Ray, she learned he lived here in Columbus and was single. The more that Linda talked with Doris the more the likelihood that Ray was the father seemed to Doris.

Linda told Doris that she had snuck into the nursery and saw the baby when the nurse left, "and you have the cutest little baby girl".

Linda so glad her parents hadn't sent her to jail, although they would not let her keep her baby when it was born next month. She had been there for five months and had seen a lot of young unwed mothers come and go. Most were strongly encouraged to give the babies up for adoption where they could have a proper home and not have the stigma of being labeled a bastard. The results of this were she had heard many stories and gained much knowledge about how the system of the day handled unwanted pregnancies.

She agreed to help Doris sneak into the nursery to see her baby.  As soon as her eyes fell upon the precious baby, she knew that was her baby, 'Faith'. The gentle old man on the ceiling told her to have faith and here she was.

Now the problem was how to keep her. She was aware that when she left California to return to Ohio she had missed her period and might be pregnant. There was no way to contact Larry since he had shipped out; Doris hadn't known where he was or how to contact him.

The only other possibility was the older man, Ray; he had given her a ride in the sidecar of his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Yes, they had camped out while traveling across the country and slept together in his sleeping bag. Sex just seemed a way to pay him for his niceness. She had told him she was twenty-one years old instead of her actual age of eighteen. (Lying came natural to Doris).

Short, bald and thirty-three years old Ray was much closer in age to his friend Johnny. His wife Garnett was twenty-three years old, so Ray didn't question Doris' age. Besides she was so pretty and well built. He considered himself lucky. He knew that she would never have considered dating him back in Ohio, he was too shy, an only child and still lived at home with his mother.

Linda agreed to keep watch for the nurse and let Doris hold and feed her baby for the first time. Being one of the older children of a large family, she had seen her mother nurse the younger brothers and sisters many times and how to burp them when their tummy became full.

Sitting quietly in the rocking chair in the nursery, gently rocking her baby, Doris closed her eyes and drifted into memories of the past that led up to her being in this position.

The phone call was the first time Ray was aware that Doris was in jail, what the charges were and there was a baby.  Edna told Ray," If your man enough to make a baby, your man enough to take care of it." Ray begged Doris to come in off the roof and bring the baby in, promising her they would get married and keep "their" baby. Most of the morning was spent with the negotiations and finally Doris agreed to leave the roof. She and the baby would stay there for the rest of the post-natal care and Ray & Edna would
make arrangements for her release and marriage.  Then on June 29,1939, Ray went to the courthouse to get the birth certificate.  He listed himself as the father 33 yrs and had Doris's age listed as 19 yrs.  He also had the baby's name recorded as Faith LaVaughn Brown.

Doris and Ray were married on 29 July 1939, by Grandma Browns' minister in the E.U.B church, of which she was a long time member. It was a very small ceremony, with just the two of them, baby Faith, and Edna. The ministers' wife was the other witness, since two witnesses were needed for

     By Faith Payton