Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my readers and contributors, especially my older brother Ken who is celebrating his birthday today – the big 6-0 no less. Happy Birthday, Bro!

As my longtime readers might remember, Ken was Lorain's First Baby of 1958, which I wrote about here and here!

Now, since we know who Lorain's first baby was in 1958, how about 1968?

As reported on the front page of the January 2, 1968 Journal, “Janette Marie Dunnigan, 7-pound 12-ounce daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dunnigan of 2288 N. Jefferson Blvd., Lorain, bounced into the world in St. Joseph Hospital at 2:43 a.m. New Year’s Day, several hours ahead of any Golden Crescent competition.

“Her father, 20, and mother, 18, the former Patricia Lynn Jessel, are both Lorain High School graduates. He works at Ford Assembly Plant.

“Janette’s grandparents are Robert C. Dunnigan, unsuccessful Republican candidate for council president in the November election, and Mrs. Dunnigan of 2883 Cleveland Blvd. and Mr. and Mrs. Mike Jessel, of 3337 W. Erie Ave."

Okay, so what kind of loot did Janette and her parents win? A $10.00 Gift Certificate from Kline's Baby Dept.; a ride home from the hospital in the all-new 1968 Ford Fairlane compliments of George May Ford; a $5 Gift Certificate for Dry Cleaning at Wayne Cleaners; a savings account with $1.00 per pound at birth at the Citizens Home and Savings Association; a maple-finish high chair from the May Company at Sheffield Center; a wicker dressing table from Rigbee's Bargain Town; a month's supply of free Jersey Lane Milk from Lorain Creamery; and a pair of professionally fitted Little Yankee baby shoes from Januzzi's.

By the way, Janette still lives in Lorain. Here’s hoping she’s doing well and has a Happy Birthday and a great 2018.

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Just a day before the above coverage of Janette Marie Dunnigan’s birth, the Journal did something interesting in the January 1, 1968 edition. The paper did a follow-up on two babies born on January 1, 1948 – 20 years earlier. 

Here's the paper's update on Dennis Losh and Tom Jere in which we learned that both graduated from Admiral King High School in 1966, and were preparing for two very different futures.

You can read more about Dennis on his page on the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame website here. He was an inductee in 1995.