My Dad – the Original Organic Gardener

In my senior year, my Dad earned $3200. It helped me get Federal Grants for college for sure, but it made life pretty hard that year in my family of 5 kids. My Dad was a laborer in the local Union. I remember my Dad getting up and calling the Union to see if there [...]

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The Front Line

My Dad wouldn’t talk about his experience in the war much. It was possible that he never could comprehend the situation that he was in – even 35 years after it happened. It was also possible that it was so horrible, it was just best to not talk about it. Every single one of his [...]

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Being a middle child, #7 of 14

My grandmother on my father’s side had her first child at age 15, a boy said to have weighed 13 plus pounds. Afterwards, her doctor told her she would not have any more children. I guess he didn’t exactly know what he was talking about, since she had 13 more children.

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The ‘Story’ part of Family ‘History’

I have always been fascinated with family stories. Mine, in particular, but other people’s families too. These stories constitute the fabric of which we are made. It’s the story-telling that intrigues me.  As Frank Delaney says in Tipperary “Memory is a canvas – stretched, primed, and ready for painting on. We love the ‘story’ part [...]

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Archive the Photo AND Tell the Story: Ruby

My grandmother Ruby robbed a train when my mother was a baby. My mother was with her. Ruby was convicted and served four years in prison and my mother was sent to an orphanage.

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