MOTHERS DAY PT 1

Once again for Mothers Day I'm posting photos of our family's mothers.

For our Mom's side we don't have very many since her grandparents immigrated
here from Ireland and Germany in the 19th century.

 

John McFarland & Annie (Kelley) McFarland

First there's Anna Kelley, born 1Oct 1858 in Kiltrustan, Roscommon, Ireland. She married
my great grandfather in Edinburgh Scotland on 16May1879 and shortly after they came
to America and settled in Boston. She had 17 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.
Anna died 15Feb 1945 at Boston, Ma. at age 86.

Pauline (Offinger) White

Our other maternal great grandmother was Pauline Offinger, born 17Dec 1873
in Cambridge, Massachusetts to German immigrant parents. She married Edward J.
White on 27Nov 1895 in Boston, Ma. and had 9 children.          

Agnes (McFarland) White

Our grandmother Agnes (McFarland) White was born 7Oct 1898 in Boston, Ma, the
14th of John & Annie's 17 children. She was known as "Aggie" in the family.
She married Edward F.White, Sr. and had two children, our Uncle Ed and our Mom
Anne Marie. She died 12Feb 1957 in Malden Ma.

Anne M. (White) West

Finally, our Mom, Anne M. (White) West. She was born 7Jul 1927 at Boston, Ma and
married our Dad on 29Jun 1947, also at Boston. To her McFarland cousins she was
known as "Red White". She died on 28Jul 1999 at Weymouth, Ma and she is missed by
my brother, my sister, myself and the rest of the family.

MOTHER'S DAY PT 1

Once again for Mothers Day I'm posting photos of our family's mothers.

For our Mom's side we don't have very many since her grandparents immigrated
here from Ireland and Germany in the 19th century.

 

John McFarland & Annie (Kelley) McFarland

First there's Anna Kelley, born 1Oct 1858 in Kiltrustan, Roscommon, Ireland. She married
my great grandfather in Edinburgh Scotland on 16May1879 and shortly after they came
to America and settled in Boston. She had 17 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.
Anna died 15Feb 1945 at Boston, Ma. at age 86.

Pauline (Offinger) White

Our other maternal great grandmother was Pauline Offinger, born 17Dec 1873
in Cambridge, Massachusetts to German immigrant parents. She married Edward J.
White on 27Nov 1895 in Boston, Ma. and had 9 children.          

Agnes (McFarland) White

Our grandmother Agnes (McFarland) White was born 7Oct 1898 in Boston, Ma, the
14th of John & Annie's 17 children. She was known as "Aggie" in the family.
She married Edward F.White, Sr. and had two children, our Uncle Ed and our Mom
Anne Marie. She died 12Feb 1957 in Malden Ma.

Anne M. (White) West

Finally, our Mom, Anne M. (White) West. She was born 7Jul 1927 at Boston, Ma and
married our Dad on 29Jun 1947, also at Boston. To her McFarland cousins she was
known as "Red White". She died on 28Jul 1999 at Weymouth, Ma and she is missed by
my brother, my sister, myself and the rest of the family.

A DIFFERENT VIEW

I've written before about this photo of our Mom & Dad on their wedding day in 1947. They're standing
outside a building in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, looking so serious on such a happy occasion.
My theory about it is that they'd already had some photos taken and just wanted to get on with the reception or their honeymoon. I wish I'd asked them what their wedding day was like.

 
Then last week when we were out at Ohio at my Aunt Dorothy's birthday party there was a table with a
display of old family photos, and I saw this picture:

Look at those smiles! They look much happier and more relaxed than in the first picture.

It's a bit overexposed, and it's a picture of a picture, but I think it's a better photo of my parents!

MOM

My Mom, Anne Marie White, never graduated from high
school. The only school I recall her mentioning was the Mary
E. Curley School in Jamaica Plain, which today is a middle
school, grades 6-8, and I haven't been able to determine as
yet if it was a high school in her day. And the only story I
remember her telling about her school days was one about
how she'd been made to sit under the teacher's
desk once for acting up in class back in elementary school.

Mom dropped out of school sometime during WWII and went
to work at an A&P Supermarket. Uncle Ed had enlisted in the
Navy and so there was just Mom and my Grandmother Aggie.
I'm not sure how old she was when she went to work, but
Mom was born in 1927 so she'd have had to have at least 14
or 15 years old. Years later when we living in Malden she'd
shop at the A&P in Linden Square and I remember her using
the coffee grinding machine which impressed me!


Mom was a very intelligent woman and I'm quite sure that if
she'd stayed on in school she would have done well. She was
well-spoken, a good conversationalist, and liked to read. She
liked historical novels and some of her favorite authors were
Taylor Caldwell, John Jakes, and Susan Howatch, but she
also enjoyed Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins. She also
read historical romances such as Beatrice Small's books, and
mysteries. Occasionally she'd surprise me by reading one of
the books I'd been reading, such as a Stephen King novel, and
then asking me if the author had written anything else. The
only type of books I do not recall her ever reading were the
science fiction and fantasy books I loved other than Marion
Zimmer Bradley's Arthurian fantasy "The Mists of Avalon" .


Over the years Mom held a variety of jobs most of which
were of the light assembly or warehouse variety, although
her last one was as a switchboard operator/receptionist.
That one required using a computer for the first time and
once she got over her initial unease she did it well.

She was the Red Headed Witch of Evans Street and
taught me how to ride a bike in her own unique style.

My mother had style too, and dressed as well as family
finances and the budget allowed. When my sister and I were
working in the garment business at Collegetown and had
employee discounts we had no trouble figuring out what to
get Mom for her birthday, Christmas, and Mother's Day.


I'm firmly convinced that given her intelligence Mom might
have done quite well if she'd finished high school and maybe
gone on to college if circumstances had allowed it and if she'd
been a little more self confident. She never got over her
father's estrangement from the family.

I'm proud of both my parents. Neither of them graduated
from high school but they raised three kids to adulthood and
did it through good times and some very tough times but
did their best to keep a roof over our heads and food in our
bellies. They weren't perfect but they kept at it.


And they are missed.


Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

HOW I LEARNED TO RIDE MY BIKE

There is a legend in my family. When my sister Cheryl read
my posts about our family trips up home she asked me if I
was going to post something about it.

It was shortly after we’d moved into the Capen St. triple decker
apartment in Dorchester and kids in the neighborhood noticied

that I still had one training wheel on my bike. Now confession here

: I’d seen an older kid thrown over the handlebars of his bike right
outside our house in Malden. I was in no hurry to have something
like that happen to me.

Ok, I was a chicken.

Dad was of course was working so it was Mom who ran me up and down
the street trying to get me to keep my balance while the other kids
watched and called out advice or laughed. Finally I just wouldn’t

get on the bike.

I should have known better.

A few weeks later we went uphome for vacation with the bike

strapped upright atop the car roof. How Dad did it, I don’t know.

This was pre-bikerack days. I do recall it involved a lot of rope and

open car windows. We got to Aunt Flossie’s house which was at

the end of a long downhill driveway at the bottom of which was a

garage or small barn. And the next day the lessons began.

Mom would start me off at the top of the driveway and push the

bike and down I’d go to either fall over or keep my balance until I

hit the garage door At some point they opened the door and put

something in there softer for me to hit. I’m not sure. I was busy

yelling like McCauley Culkin in “Home Alone” as I wobbled down

the hill. I just knew I’d fall and each time Mom would get me back

up and tell me to try it again.

Eventually I learned to stay on the bike. Hitting the brakes and

steering came a little later. When my kid brother Phil came along

and my sister’s kids after him, they heard about how I was taught

to ride a bike.

Mom was a tough cookie. She had to be, growing up when she did

and how she did. She had a temper you’d expect from a redhead

and she made us toe the line but she was ready to step in to defend

one of us if she felt we needed it.

She loved to sing and while untrained had a good voice. She used

to sing a duet of “God Bless America” to close the Saturday Night

Dances at the Abington VFW.

Mom liked parties and threw two Halloween Costume Parties I

vividly remember. For one she dressed up as the Underwood

Ham Red Devil and greeted guests on the front lawn, pitchfork in

hand. For another she went with her resemblance to Carol Burnett

and dressed up as The Washerwoman character.

She liked to watch the Boston sports teams, especially the Celtics

of the Larry Bird era and would often yell at the referees on the

tv. She also rooted for the Red Sox. When Pudge Fisk hit that home

run to win the game in the 1975 World Series everyone else but

had gone to bed and we woke them up with all the cheering we did.

She adored her grandchildren and I wish she’d had more time to

spend with them all..

When Dad died she was heartbroken. Luckily some friends from

the Post took her in hand and eventually she met Joe with whom

she found laughter again. I think if they hadn’t met we’d have lost

Mom sooner than we did.

Mom died of cancer in 1999 and it’s hard to believe she’s been

gone for eight years now. As with Dad’s passing there’s a lot of

things about those final days that are difficult to think about. But

there’s a lot of good things from the years before for us to remember

and laugh.

Like how Mom taught me to ride my bike.

MEET THE FOLKS

I'm currently scanning some of the older pics in two albums.

Back some twenty years ago we bought the type with the clear
plastic sheet that covers the photos thinking this would protect
them. Instead they recently began to discolor and fade. So at least
by scanning them and making several copies the chances of saving
them for the future are better.

This is my mom and dad on their wedding day. I know the look
on Dad's face as the one where he's about reached the end of his
patience but he's being polite. It's their wedding day and they're
posing for another dang picture instead of getting started on the
honeymoon!

I had to crop the left hand side some where the top left hand
corner was sort sort of eaten away. But on the other hand, I
never noticed the chalk writing on the wall behind them, or the
boarded up window or the open door before.

Oh, and this was taken in June, 1947.