Joshua Paige, the first baby of 1981 at St. Luke's Hospital, recently became the father of Joshua Lee Paige, Jr.

NEWBURGH – It was 29 years ago New Year’s Day that Jo-Ann Paige, then living in Plattekill, gave birth to the first baby born in 1981 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh.

She remembers the events leading up to the birth of her son, Joshua, like it was yesterday.

“I remember that our car wouldn’t start and I had gone into labor and no one in the house would believe me that I was going into labor because it was New Years and two years before, I had had a baby on Christmas Day and we had a blizzard and they wouldn’t believe I had to be taken to the hospital either,” she told MidHudsonNews.com.

Their landlord wound up driving Jo-Ann and husband, Fred, to the hospital.

The Paiges have three adult sons now and four grandchildren. Joshua became a dad recently.

The Paiges now live in Tafton, PA in Pike County, but maintain close ties with friends and relatives in the Hudson Valley.