COLUMN: Carillon Flashback January 29, 1954 – Baby born in truck cab during January blizzard

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This article was published 11/03/2024 (496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Wohlgemuth family of Seven Sisters Falls district, will never forget the circumstances surrounding the birth of their second child, a six-and-a-half pound girl, who decided to arrive on the scene just a little early during her mother’s ride to the hospital,during a January blizzard.

Katherine Helen Wohlgemuth was born in the cab of the Wohlgemuth truck at 4:55 a.m., Saturday. January 23. Her father, Dave Wohlgemuth, a 27-year-old lumberjack, was pressed into service as midwife.

Katherine Helen chose as the spot for her premature debut, an isolated stretch of road near Dorothy Lake in the Whiteshell district. Temperatures hovered around the 25-below Fahrenheit mark and high winds tossed snow around to near-blizzard proportions, which was making for slow progress for the Wohlgemuth family, who were on their way to the hospital at Ste Anne.

But in spite of all this, father, mother and baby are all doing nicely, after that rather hectic ride in the early morning hours of January 23.

Anticipating the birth of their second child, the young couple had made plans to register Mrs Wohlgemuth at the hospital in Ste Anne.

Then, about 15 miles east of Seven Sisters Falls and about 75 miles from Winnipeg, Katherine Helen was born.

The father took full charge of the delivery, following some instructions from the young mother. After the birth, he wrapped the baby in diapers and drove to the Charles Precious family farm home, 15 miles away.

A spokesperson at the Ste Anne Hospital said the baby suffered no ill effects from the experience and was completely without frostbite. At last report, Katherine Helen was doing “very well” at the hospital.

The Wohlgemuth truck got stuck in snow drifts several times along the route and Wohlgemuth had to get out and shovel a path, before going on.

The Wohlgemuths have another child, almost two years old, who was staying with friends while her parents made the trip to the hospital.

Mr Wohlgemuth, taking the whole episode in stride, went back to work in the bush Monday.

Mr and Mrs Wohlgemuth both hail from the Greenland district and Mrs Wohlgemuth arrived there early this week to stay with her mother, Mrs Abe Unger.