Grandma’s Stories

Sep 29th “Remembering MOMMA and all of the FAMILY”

Recalling Remembering Remembrances Recollections

This is one photo of MOMMA… that I took as little brother Tommy  was taking a turn at playing something  on the piano… that required two extra hands …

that they  could complement the other piano player…

and have FUN … all at the same time!

Those sure were the days when we would have FUN doing things that  required that you  ‘DO’ … want to have Fun… and you must be sure to do your part… that will eventually get some real good laughter going…

and with a Photo or two… you know that… always and  forever and a day… later on…

you will  once again,  remember just how much Fun you did have… and will want to do it  all over again!

This is one of those days when little TOMMY… hit bottom.

On this particular Sunday… the Orphanage had a PICNIC going on and Tommy wanted to go,  so  that he could meet up with some of his old Classmates… and ride my bike ( it was a boys bike) which was okay with me.

It is a good distance from Saint Louis… straight  out Natural Bridge and to the Normandy area… but and as  the weather  was just  terrific and Tommy was so full  of vim and vigor…

so much so, that when he did get to Orphanage… he did  just like he usually will do… performs show after  show for his friends.

Maybe just a little too much ‘show’ … as on some  of the gravel road area…  that he was doing these fine maneuvers …

Tommy did a high flying crash down on an incline of  one of those road areas…

sliding down on his bare arms… and lots of the loose gravel became embedded …and he is now …

not about to let anybody know just how much pain and how bad he feels… as all he can think of…how do I get home?

When little  Tommy finally got home on the bike… all scratched up and the bike looking like it went through a WAR… of some kind…

he was very quiet and went to his room to rest… and did not want me to say anything to our MOTHER.

His pain got so bad toward evening… I just had to tell MOM about his problems.

We had to take Tommy to the City Hospital Emergency Room… where they  did fixed him up.

The above photo shows  all of us the next day… all tired out from long hours the previous evening in the hospital… 

and TOMMY all stretched out resting from the drugs and medicine to heal him… and we are all just taking it easy on a nice Summer Sunny Day…

with very little conversation going on… about the terrific-o-o  “BIKE” trip!

Big Denny and little Denny Jr., with MOM and we are in the backyard of Mom’s sister, Irene Riley…

as everyone in the family wants to see the new addition to our family… this is back in 1940… and little Denny looks like he is just waiting to be able to get up and  go… on those legs that he is exercising just getting strong and ready!

Some families multiply… as you  can see above… MOM holding one of the twins, Eve Karen… and now  as the oldest… I am holding MOM’s purse and on the left side of this photo is Tommy and Deeny Jr., is on the right side…

and we are starting to grow in size and in new members… just doing what a good family is supposed to do… besides having too much FUN!

“Just have to remember some of the good ole days and what we did and believe that we all  did walk down that good road… as it is stated in Psalm 139… as some of the family are no longer here on Earth… but I’m guessing in Heaven… enjoying the rewards of a good and faithful servant… that  which… we all want to be and do!”

“LOVE and still miss all of the family,  that are no longer here… so have a tremendously  good and Happy  Birthday Party Mona… in Heaven!”        D.V.     xoxoxo

Sep 28th “One More Happy Birthday to My Mother”

“I said It Before, Saying It Again”

“Mother” Grand and Great!

Mother equals Miracles! 

Let’s start at the beginning… without “Mother,”  there would  be no  “New Little Creations of Life!”  

The way,  that our Creator … created His  world, for all of us and wanting it to continue for all eternity, was to give  to all those that He designated in Psalm 139,  as “Mothers”  to receive  those “Blessings of Life” …

So that  with His Blessings  we would all want to live to the fullest… according to HIS word.

In other words … when you are Blessed… You are Happy… and when you speak to another  good words… you  will receive  back those HAPPY WORDS… in more Blessings.

And, the word for life,  is:  “It’s a   Miracle!” 

Are those not the exact words you hear by everyone… when you are visiting  a NEW MOTHER and the family…  at the maternity-ward?

Whatever  road… your journey  will be  and you  take in “Life”  as some of  us, can  and will take a wrong turn… here or there…remember always…your “Mother” was the first one to “Love You”…  no matter what else happens on the way. 

We, all are not born with “Silver Spoons”  in the “Land of Plenty!”  

As some do enter on the “Road of Life” with the most meager amount of substance, and as in  this great game of life… 

You  will work,  on  a plan… and hopefully your  very own plan….  that will  in time lead you to very  much  success, and happiness… when you  learn to give and share … as was given to you with many rewards in LIFE!

  In Life … here on Earth… everyone finds so many things  that, we might want to  do NOW, and so many  disturbing distractions… especially  TODAY…

In these  times that we are living in  TODAY… but we must not forget that there is a greater …here after…  that which we find in the WORD in the BIBLE… a book that I feel that every FAMILY should have… reading for guidance …

So for all REWARDS… that are planned  for each of us to receive…  as WE are to enter into Eternity … into the Loving and Merciful  arms of  Our Creator!

This week  Mom! 

  It was your “Birthday” to  be celebrated and remember,  “for all  that you did,” for all of  your family!   

 Of all people,  I know,  what a very rough road you were on for awhile.    Some families just may get  side tracked and will  not  remember their own families with  honour and respect, because they have let their eyes become blinded… by what they find as difficult and  hard on their  own roads of travel … and also have forgotten to use kind words of forgiveness and LOVE… to one another… as we all need to do! 

” They forgot their  first “Love”  Mother! 

“Happy Birthday!” 

 “NOW…  Always and forever!”       D.V.

Sep 26th “When does “Tomorrow”  ever come for ME?”

“An Extra Special Happy Birthday Mom… and forever more”

This is the…  SAME LOCATION…  as the PHOTO below.

But in this Photo… that is my MOTHER… and  now… she is holding our baby sister Karen… this twin, that was a survivor!

Identical twins were born, each weighing eight and a half pounds… but first to be born was Kathleen, and had some trouble with the lungs… and was buried at Calvary Cemetery.

                        “Life Changes in… SEPTEMBER…”

In SEPTEMBER  of 1945… LIFE as I knew it …came to a big change.

Since my MOTHER would be having twins in FEBRUARY of 1946…

My two  brothers DENNY  and TOMMY and ME  – would need a place to be taken care of … for a short time… A time long enough for my Mother to have the “TWINS” that she was now  expecting and a few months after the delivery… so that she could get back on her feet… to be able to do… all that she was now doing… but then… with five children.

This is what  my MOTHER was told while …all of the paperwork that she was  now signing … for this temporary placement to get started …that all  of this  preparation was just a formality … but once we were actually placed in the Orphanage … there was another story and they were not letting us leave…  when something sounds too good … beware… that which you were told … was not the truth.

To begin the search for this temporary housing…

There were three locations  – that children could be placed on a temporary basis.   The first one that we all went too… for a visit with a social worker  – doing the driving and giving us all the details  – as to what she thought would be a good place for each of us…

First, Saint Mary’s Home for Girls – in the South Saint Louis area.  This place – made a real impression on me – it was a very tired  and worn out place – and not at all friendly  and not really  a place… that I was wanting to go – and no amount of telling me – it would only be for a short time… was making me think differently!

The second place would be for boys only… Saint Joseph Home for Boys… and since I was not to go there – well nothing at all was very appealing  to me.

My two brothers – well they were just  too young to know what they wanted  and or even like, and I do not think that they had any idea … of what was really going on.

When each of my brothers were to be born… well I was the one that had to go somewhere for a short stay  – – and even the bag of candy  that I was given … did not set too well with me.

 That is one time – I’ll never forget!

I have this bag of candy to hold, all the while these adults are showing us this place … the different rooms … where I will be sleeping and  eating and playing… and then secretly my parents are no longer around… gone!

All the while I am taken to different places where all the children are… and I am still holding on to my bag of candy!

Now… it is that time of the day…  for us, children  to go to bed. I will not turn loose of my bag of candy. 

Finally I am placed in this bed… still holding tight that bag of candy… will not turn loose of it for no reason … at all!

Surprise it is MORNING… and I no longer have that bag of candy. Looked all over and started to cry… so that someone would help me, to find that bag of candy.

Nobody cared about my bag of candy… and was told “Tomorrow you will receive another bag of candy!”

To a young child… being told … “Tomorrow  YOU will receive a bag of CANDY”… means nothing at all.

“When does “Tomorrow”  ever come for ME?”

In the above photo… My FATHER is holding the one surviving twin KAREN –  then there is DENNY –  Mary Ellen – – TOMMY.

Did you ask…  are we HAPPY?

– – NO!

Sep 25th “Remembering a very Happy and Young MARIE”

“Marie Brady at age 13”

This  is  another of those old  – (over 100 years old)  –  PHOTOS… that just does not seem to have much LIFE in… to last much longer, and  before it completely fades away…  just thought,  that I would give it one more shot, just to see…  if we can view the faces better, as “I  LOVE the fact…  that my “MOM”…  “to be”… is so cute!”

Lots of things will happen  between the date of this PHOTO and my BIRTH.     “America”  has not as yet  entered in the “First  World War” … and the “Roaring Twenties” has not as yet  “hit the scene” … and  young  “Marie”  has not completed  “GRADE SCHOOL” and of course my “FATHER  to be”…has not come  back from the  “WAR” situation…

And then…  on that “TRAIN to St.Louis…”  coming from ” CALIFORNIA”  destination to   “OHIO” in traveling,  met  a  “Mr. FLEMING, a cousin” …  who invites  “Mr. McClarren”  to celebrate their “home-coming” with all of  his   “BRADY clan”  in “MISSOURI” …  before continuing his trip to “OHIO” … and of course…  at that large gathering…  there  “DENNY”  meets   “MARIE”!

“WOW” and another  “WOW”!

In the above PHOTO is “Irene Brady Riley” sister to  “MARIE”   and the lady in the center a cousin, and  or she could be the wife of the eldest brother,  “JIM BRADY” …  and the little girl  seated on the left…  could be their  adopted  daughter, JIMMY BRADY ,  and so many years later…

I met her when she was married to  Mr. Shilling, and living in “FLORIDA.”   The boy seated on the right is unknown to me… at this time.

When looking at  “old photos” …  and we know … what has happened since…  good – bad…  indifferent…   there must be a reason…  that we do not know – – all the stuff in LIFE – – that  “will happen” …  if  we continue…  on the “PATHS” we took and or take… in those younger years? ********* 

 “We just could not move another step!”    D.V.

Seated…”MOM’… “Neighbor and a good friend”… “Marie, and very young and living at home with MOM and POP” … and standing is “POP, Mr. Thomas F. Brady, himself”

Marie Brady – 1918

Miss Marie Brady  – Today is her  121st –  Birthday!

This  PHOTO  on the back side…is stamped that if you want more copies of this “PHOTO”…   the charge is $1.00 or 6 copies for $5.00 –

 “Now you have an idea of how old the photo is.”

I always,  liked this photo of my  Mother  “Marie Brady McClarren” …  but she did not like it… why ??? 

She did not say   and I  could – never get a reason?

So, today in Heaven…  I know that they are singing and dancing …  dancing the “Charleston”,  that was MARIE’s  favorite dance during  the “Roaring Twenties” and those  days of the “FLAPPERS”… they must have really  been having fun for those… who  did like to kick up their heels?

“Happy Birthday” …  to the  “BEST of  MOTHERS … and wishing lots and many more happy Birthdays in Heaven!

 If only they made cameras that would be perfectly focused in,  on that…  extra special  subject, my MOM to be, way back  and then,  in the 1930’s?

If  –  “Marie” did mot have to be the one child in the “Brady Family” that had to be the “Care-taker” of the older “PARENTS” …   since they did not have  that “Social Security”  thing,  set up way back then…  maybe we would have had the chance to get to know our MOTHER when she was much younger?

But of course, we do not have that choice to make,  as we  have been “thought of ” – way before the ‘world’  was a reality – – and we are only the “creatures” …  and never  have been,  the “CREATOR” of this universe. 

Everything had been in  a special  plan of the Creator and only by the “CREATOR”  as we read in the BIBLE  “Psalm 139”.

So, I am very  well pleased,  with the way everything has been and is going according to a plan and we just need to learn to be content with what we have and have received.

And then…  to do our part to help to make everything better for our neighbor as our self … and without complaining.

“Who in the world likes to hear constantly,  from a big complainer – any way?”

There was an old saying so long ago …  forgot who started promoting it …  but it goes like this…

“The LORD helps those that help themselves” … and of course most people took that the wrong way  but,  if you give a thought or two about it … it means that if you  can help someone along the road to Eternity… instead of only doing for yourself , you will be receiving so much more help in your own needs.

Because …  when someone is only receiving and never giving… his empty hand will cause such “backache” …  that there is no healthy  LIFE for  such a stingy one.

“In giving,  we receive  more Blessings from our CREATOR, and that is what is most important  for us … on this trip to our Eternal Reward!”     

Sep 25th “The 25th is here …Celebrate with MOMMA”

“MOM will be celebrating another BIRTHDAY”

      “Remembering “MAMA” reading to us”

When we … children in the 1940’s  sre were “LUCKY” – to have a “MAMA”  –  that would take some time to read   – as in those days – there was no “TV” to park your children… in front of… for hours.

WE had in our Living Room… a “Davenport” –  that is a sofa  that would open up –  into a very large bed  – but during the day and  with no company and or relatives from OHIO, that would spend a week or so with us –  we would  all sit in a row –  with  our MOM in the middle and she would start to read to us.

One  extra special thing about my MOM –  was that she would   change her voice…  to indicate a child speaking or whatever the story would require.

Another thing when reading to us… there was no word that she could not say  and every story would come to real, LIFE in our minds… as we could see exactly  what the “author” of that book wanted us to see  and  to really understand fully,  the  whole story.

The one story that…  I  really  remember more so than any other is  of  the little “Hiawatha” … especially  when MOM would be reading… 

 A much-anthologized excerpt begins:  

   “On the shores of Gitche Gumee, / Of the shining Big Sea Water, / Stood Nokomis, the old woman, / Pointing with her finger westward, / O’er the water pointing westward, / To the purple clouds of sunset.”

  and as this was coming to LIFE  –  those poems of “LONGFELLOW” …  just  found a permanent place in my brain …  so that when I had my children and they were very young…

I also bought the  same book… “HIAWATHA”  … and my MOTHER also read the same story…  just the way she read it to me  and my brothers, and to this day…  I still have the book,  as worn out as it is…  it is a real treasure to me!

For those that want an idea of this great story of little “HIAWATHA” – – have it added right here, for you … listen if you like?

With out …  looking for my old copy of  “HIAWATHA”  the above cover… take a look and see if you also have this wonderful book for children, too. 

The pld above  cover … sure  does look just  like the cover of my   old 50 years  and  or more  … keep “safe”  and a  “keepsake”  book.