I believe it was likely to be able to travel to Kenya to have the baby over there where it was her intent to leave the baby there to be raised my the paternal family in Kenya. She was to then return to re-start her life as a young teenager going to college in Seattle Washington.
Although I admit that this scenario sounds very plausible, it's just speculation. She could have been planning to join the Peace Corps when she was 17. Maybe her parents took her to Europe. People get passports for their children just so they'll have them.
Young feller, the Peace Corps was a creation of JFK I believe, who became Pres 1/20/61 and didn’t get Peace Corps going for awhile,I’d guess.
Maybe now they do. Passenger jets were relatively new in 1960. My kids had passports at age 11 and 14 (both because they were traveling to Europe), but I didn't get my first passport until I was almost 30 years old, which was in 1976.
ML/NJ
” People get passports for their children just so they’ll have them.”
It was very unusual for children to have passports back then...!
If she got the original passport in late 1960 or early 1961, she was already pregnant. It was purposeful, not for some youthful adventure or family vacation.