I was born in March of 1949. WWII had ended and former soldiers were home and starting families. Shortly after my birth, my baptism or Christening as some call it, was scheduled. Unbeknownst to me, my great grandmother had sewn a gown with fabric allegedly from a silk parachute used in the war, and lace from her own pantaloons. The gown was an “ecru” colored, rather simple gown first worn by me in the spring of 1949.
My Baptism was attended by several generations of family. Above is a photo of my mom and dad holding me. Below is a photo of my mother, both of her grandmothers and her mother (holding me).
The dress was especially cared for and in 1954, when my brother, Steven, came along, he too wore the gown. At this point, the dress was packed away to await a new generation. And yes, years went by until my first child, Marcus Alexander was born in 1976. Alex wore the gown at his baptism in St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta, Georgia. A few months later, my brother’s daughter, Emily was born. She also wore the gown at her ceremony at The Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island.
Her brother, Andrew, was the next newborn to wear the gown some seven years later. The gown was not utilized by my second child, Wes, as he was not baptized for another four years and was obviously, at that point, unable to fit into it. Again, the gown went into storage but was brought out in 2002 to be worn by Taylor Ann, one of Emily and Jonathan’s twins at their double Christening in Atlanta, Ga. The gown had now been in storage for nearly twenty five years.
Neither of my children have had their own but Emily’s children are grown and there may be a need in the near future. Somewhere along the way, I decided that we needed to record the names and the dates of those who wore this very special dress. I set out to embroider the names and the dates of each baby on a strip of fabric. Although I did complete it, I could not decide on how to connect or attach it to the gown whose silk fabric was by now over 75 years old. The embroidered strip sat in the box for several years until my niece, determined to make sure it survived me, traveled to my home to motivate and encourage me to “do something”. Together, we sewed the strip onto some satin blanket binding and then hand basted it to the hem of the underskirt of the dress. Because she has the sweetest heart, Emily insisted on cutting a tiny lace flower from my wedding veil and sewing it onto the dress itself. It forms the center of a rather long thin satin ribbon. In the final picture, you can see the naming strip attached to the underskirt so that it is nearly hidden by the lace overlay.
Emily is now in charge of the Christening gown, having taken it from my home in South Carolina to hers in New Orleans. Who knows when the gown will be used next? In anticipation of what
I hope will be the inevitable, I left room on the ribbon for the addition of more names and dates.
CHILDREN THAT HAVE WORN THE GOWN
Pamela Sue Protz 1949
Steven Paul Protz 1953
Marcus Alexander Whitaker 1976
Emily Foster Protz 1977
Andrew Steven Protz 1984
Taylor Ann Sontag 2002
