Dad’s History
Mum has abandoned Dad and I for a few days while she hangs on the Cape and thus we are left to fend for ourselves in both the food and conversation categories. I declared yesterday morning before she left that Dad should make us hamburgers on the grill and I’ll heat up some beans (brown ones) because he likes that dinner. When he was a newly divorced bachelor, this was his dinner of choice and I think eating this meal will forever remind him of those couple of years of freedom. However, he was not all that free because he lived with his mother for part of that time and disappointed her with all his all night partying. She even called him an “alley cat” with such disdain that he still talks about the stinging experience today. But don’t be fooled, he really likes it that his mother called him an alley cat. But I digress…
Like a good assistant, Mum took out two hamburgers from the freezer and set them in the fridge so they were defrosted for the grill master to work his magic. We had our brown beans and beef dinner and got to talking about Dad’s parents and their history. Very, very interesting stuff. I had heard a story here and there, but this was an opportunity where my question-asking was on open-fire and I got some real hard-knocks, American history from Dad. And you, fair Bloggy, get to read some of it right here on this ol’ Bloggo.
Dad’s Mother’s Mother:
Her name was Ellen and she was born in England. When she was a little girl, her parents decided they couldn’t afford to raise her and sent her to Ireland to live with her Aunt. Then when she was 14, her Aunt sent her to America to go get a job. So she traveled at the bottom of a horrid ship that was infested with rats and other immigrants until she arrived in Boston. Upon arrival, a tag was put around her neck and she was shipped off to Chestnut Hill to work in the kitchen of some rich family. Somehow, she met her husband whose last name was Roache. He was originally from Newfoundland and came to Boston for work and found her. She had one child (my dad’s mother, Gladys) before Mr. Roache died young. I don’t recall why he died so young. Fortunately, there was a widowed man who lived in the neighborhood with a thick Irish brogue and a son. The community decided to put these two together so it was sort of an arranged marriage. But he bought her a nice house to live in and they lived happily together. Dad called his step grandfather “Pa Denny” and loved him. Pa Denny used to take Dad (a little boy) to the pubs and tell people he was his son. I guess it was to feel young. Dad remembers this with a big smile. He loved Pa Denny even though he wasn’t his biological grandfather. Pa Denny was related to the president of Jordan Marsh so when the depression hit and Gladys needed a job, her step father was able to get her a coveted spot at Jordan Marsh. Pa Denny rescued first Ellen and then Gladys. :) Dad knows a lot about Ellen because she lived with him when he was young. His childhood house in South Boston was crowded and he slept on the couch.
Dad’s Father’s Father:
Dad comes from 2 generations of Boston police officers. He, of course, broke the chain and became a printer. :) Officer Kelly does have a nice ring to it, don’t you think? His grandfather was a policeman in the early part of the century and fathered 7 children (my dad’s dad was the oldest). Dad didn’t tell me much of his Father’s mother, since he never met her as she died at a young age. At the time of her death, dad’s dad was a young college student in NYC. Upon hearing of her death, my dad’s dad dropped out of school and moved back to Boston to help out at home. I asked what was wrong with dad’s grandfather that he couldn’t effectively be a single parent and dad said very matter-of-factly, “Well, he was a drunk.” And as a result, my dad’s dad never touched alcohol and was a responsible hard-working man who took care of his 6 sibling. My dad’s grandfather sounds like a free spirit. He would go fishing and on his way back, he’d give away most of his fish to the neighbors before coming home with nearly nothing. And as mentioned, he was also a fan of the drink. When all the policemen went on strike in 1919, he was fired straightaway and got a new job as a bell hop at a fancy hotel. This allowed for his playboy behavior of meeting women at the hotels and bringing them home with him. Yes, this plural amount of women would be brought home to the place that housed his 7 children. Dad’s dad ended up kicking out his father to go live with the Auntie who lived in Randolph. Dad says this Auntie was a strong woman and could keep her playboy brother in check.
Dad’s Father:
His name was Joseph, of which is dad’s middle name. While taking care of his 6 siblings, he met Gladys and eventually married her. He had been driving coal for the coal company to try and support the family but needed a better job. Dad was born in 1935 and a couple of years later, he joined the police force in Charlestown. This was the location of many sea men on the various ships in the harbor and they also liked the drink. When the bars got out at night, Joseph would be on call to break up fights and riots over nothing. He broke his arm twice during this period and a very young dad would often be carted out to the hospital in the night with his mum to see how beaten Joseph was. He also got a second job working with the pipes on the ships. When the war broke out in 1941, he would often be taken off the police force and sleep on the ships for up to 2 weeks to get a badly wounded ship back up and running asap. Dad remembers his dad pointing at the giant smoke stack of a war ship and saying that he was at the very top of it doing some fixing. Unfortunately, the asbestos that he applied to the pipes eventually gave him cancer and he died when dad was a young man. Dad’s dad wasn’t particularly proud of the way my dad turned out since he obviously took after his party fun grandfather rather than his responsible father. But one thing I reminded dad of his how much of hard worker he is and that is clearly an influence from his dad. When he died, his last words to dad was “Don’t let your mother move in with any of you kids. Take care of your mother.” Apparently, it was a hardship on him to have his mother-in-law live with them. And when dad was divorced, he did live with his mum and looked after her but it was short-lived. My dad’s sister (named Ellen after their grandmother) offered to have their mother live with her and away she went. So he wasn’t able fulfill his dad’s last wishes and feels guilty about it. I have Gladys’s bedroom set in the basement (covered in mold and damaged from the flood) and will hold on to it as long as I can since I didn’t get to meet Joseph or Gladys.
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