Elsie's Miracle

While our post-war house was being built in Winnipeg, my husband, Ed, our baby son, Bobby, and I were living in a well-insulated trailer on the property. The somewhat crude method of heating was a make-shift coal burning stove with a pipe sticking out of a large hole, the better to ensure proper ventilation and the risk of carbon monoxide fumes poisoning our space.

Because of crowded quarters, baby Bobby’s bed consisted of a box-like crib, elevated at the foot of our bed. Bobby was not yet two, could not yet walk but could talk very well for one so young.

One night surfacing from a restless sleep, I heard Bobby state in a clear voice, “God doesn’t want me to die”. I had been teaching Sunday school but had not yet taught our son anything religious so I presumed I was dreaming. Startled awake, I crawled to the end of the bed and picked him up. I fairly shook him when he did not respond.

Beginning to panic, I shook Ed awake with my hysterical cry, “Bobby won’t wake up. Wake up, something’s wrong with Bobby!” In a daze, Ed crawled out of bed, only to collapse on a nearby couch. With my continued screaming of, “Wake up, Ed, something’s wrong with Bobby. I can’t waken him.” Finally, Ed stumbled from the couch, lurched against the trailer door and tumbled into a Winnipeg winter snow bank. Though barely able, Ed, had unknowingly allowed a rush of fresh air into the trailer, rushed back into the trailer just in time to save the lives of his family.

I have shared this story with very few over the years, fearing that it would appear just too bizarre for belief. Imagine expecting anyone to believe that an infant not yet able to walk was able, in a life and death situation, to exclaim, “God doesn’t want me to die.”