The Baby that Died

There are no photos of Jody Jim Warriner, because he did not survive his birth.

Every time we were downtown and drove past Goodbody's Ivy Chapel, I got to hear the tragic story of Jody Jim, because his ashes were stored in the mortuary there.

At corner of 3rd and Ash

Jody Jim was Carol's final biological child.  He was named after the boy character in a movie called "The Yearling." Since his brother Darwin D was born 6 and half years earlier, the family had gone through ungodly amounts of domestic trauma, to the point where it was unlikely the marriage between Darwin S and Carol would survive.  Somehow they had come to a truce and it was hoped that this baby would bring them back together.  

Carol had already given birth to 6 children.  She felt like she had this process down pat.  And since she had already given birth to at least two of her kids at home, she wanted to have a home birth at 4071 Eagle Street.  In this day and age, no doctor would have advised that she attempt a home birth. She was 37 years old, overweight, and probably diabetic by that time.  The child was very large, and she, at 4 foot 10 inches, was very small. 

According to Carol, there was a doctor and a nurse in attendance on that fateful day of March 3, 1959.  Carol labored on a table in the living room with no progress. The doctor and nurse stood above her pushing on her belly with each contraction.  But there was no way the child could be born. His head was too big, her pelvis too small. 11 year old Lynda was in the kitchen listening in horror to the panicked voices and screams of her mother.  After hours of hopeless labor, the doctor gave up and took Carol to Mercy hospital in Hillcrest.  At that point, the baby was already dead.  There was a C-section to remove his body, along with the ruptured uterus.  Her child production days were officially finished.  

His body was removed to Goodbody's Ivy Chapel, where it was cremated.  The family could not bring themselves to retrieving his ashes, so they left them there. 

Goodbody's Ivy Chapel no longer exists as a mortuary.  But it is a historic building, designed by Irving Gill, and will remain downtown forever.  Where Jody Jim's ashes ended up is anyone's guess.

The family sued the Doctor for malpractice, but they did not win. 

According to Carol it was her husband's fault that they lost the lawsuit.  He was called to the witness stand, and Dr Mina's lawyer asked him if he thought Carol had suffered pain above and beyond the pain of normal childbirth, and he supposedly testified that it was normal childbirth pain.  And the decision was made in favor of the doctor. 

Whether his answer affected the decision or not, the guilt that Darwin S would feel over the lawsuit loss would affect him for the remainder of his life.

Carol never got over this experience.  This tragedy would launch her into a compulsion that would affect the entire family for years to come.