The schools were closed for a big snowstorm back on March 9, 1961. I was a high school freshman and apparently clueless about a crisis brewing upstairs at the Neily home on Lincoln Street in East Boothbay. My father was on a business trip to New York City. My mother was alone and approaching her ninth month of pregnancy with her fifth child, Joy Hinds Neily.

As an experienced mom by then, Biz Neily knew something was dramatically going wrong. So she contacted Dr. Andrews, the family’s all-purpose, all-weather physician. 

In what has become a legendary story in my family, Dr. John drove from Boothbay Harbor in his 1950s Austin Healey Sprite, an unlikely ambulance for any time or circumstance. He assessed the situation and realized that a cesarean delivery was needed immediately. 

Somehow he got his patient up and bundled for what must have been an uncomfortably cozy ride to St. Andrews Hospital. Upon arrival my mother says she remembered someone asking Dr. John if either mother or child could be saved. 

Fortunately, events turned out successfully and sister Joy was able to celebrate her 52nd birthday last Saturday.

Though my mother died last year, Dr. John continues to be fully present and well accounted for at age 92. He lives with his son Jay and family on Hodgdon Island in Boothbay.

Happy birthday, Joy … and thank you, John Andrews!