gotohealth's Blog

Penny Simkin is a world famous Child Birth Educator, born in Maine with Mayflower heritage. She has been a close friend for 60 years. We were neighbors in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. A nice welcome fuss was made over the fact that we were of Japanese Heritage by all our neighbors. Some of the protest marches came past our houses on 23rd Avenue. Despite all the turmoil of the 1960s, everyone was making efforts to integrate. Penny says, “My Quaker heritage taught me to be accepting and helpful.”

 

What cemented our relationship was when my second pregnancy was interrupted, Thursday, October 26th, 1967; five weeks earlier than the due date. Penny took me to Northwest Hospital with an Abruptio Placenta, with 20-40% mortality of mother and child according to research of that time. I swear, “Daughter Kelly kicked her way out, and we survived because of her quick entrance.” She was in an incubator until she reached 5 pounds two weeks later. According to my husband, that was why we had no more children.

 

It was 12 noon, we had just finished listening to “WUNDA WUNDA” on Channel 5.  My water broke and I started to bleed. I was able to get hold of Penny, dialing the wall phone in the kitchen and then lying down on the floor to talk, with three-year-old Lynette helping as much as she could. Penny, ran over and took Lynette home to her house, where she also had three preschool children. She called Sally Herard. Sally had her own three preschoolers, so Marvin Herard, came to Penny’s house to baby-sit while Penny drove me to Northwest Hospital in her blue/white Volkswagen Bus. Kelly was born at 1:41pm.

 

Penny is a Physical Therapist by education, but she is credited with starting a world-wide  child-birth education movement in 1968. I like to think that we might have had a small influence?

 

For 60 years we have celebrated Penny’s birthday in May, Sally’s birthday in September and my birthday in January. On March 11, 2024, Penny text me and cancelled our Lunch date because she had an upset stomach which ended in hospice care for a mass on her pancreas and a spot on her liver.

 

Nothing like acts of friendship as Penny made Seattle, Washington, home and contributed world-wide. Just got word today, April 11, 2024, that Penny went on ahead of us.