Who we are



		Ma and her Vocation

	by Sheila Butcher BSN, RN

Theodora Straughn-Mason, my grand mother, was a midwife by vocation. I do not know where she received her training, but I do know that she delivered nearly all of her grandchildren and some of her great-grands, along with countless children in the neighboring districts of Blades Hill, Three houses Hill, Thicketts, College Savanah, Marley Vale and perhaps others.(This info I received from my mother, her daughter). I remember her delivering one of my mother's late one afternoon. We were sent outside to play and were not allowed to witness the delivery. She continued this practice till quite late in her life when her children thought she was too old for the mode of transportation that was being provided for her( like the bar of a bicycle or the back of a tractor). My mother told me not long ago that if the confined mothers had no one "to do" for them, Ma would do their washing, cook for them and at times overnight with them. One regret I had relating to this was not inquiring of her sooner how she got started and where she learned her skills. When I thought of asking her, it was too late. Her memory was too fragile and that information was already sealed in her memory bank for good. Never to be revealed by her again. By this time, I too was a midwife. and that was what peaked my interest.

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