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Note: Mary was born into a wealthy Irish Catholic familly who lived in Bronx, N ew York. The family had servants and would go for elegant carriage rid es on Sunday. She had a very Victorian nanny and, while privileged, her up bringing seemed to have been rather strict and emotionally cold. The fami ly moved to Weyman Avenue in New Rochelle wwhere she was in the first grad uating class from Blessed Sacrament School and attended New Rochelle Hi gh School. She was very attached to her father and was devastated wh en he died. She was just finishing high school with great hopes for colle ge and working as a secretary in New York City.
After her father's death, friends of his advised her mother to place all t he familly's wealth in some investments they recommended. As the cra sh of the stock market continued, they became virtually penniless overnigh t. Instead of attending college as she had dreamed, Mary continued her pos ition as secretary in order to help her mother raise her younger sister a nd brothers. She was always close to her famlly and was the source of mo st of the information and pictures I have.
She worked for another eight years until she married (Howard) in 1940. Th ey lived on Drake Avenue in New Rochelle, NY. then moved to Robins Road. H er married life was difficult. When her eldest daughter was not quite t wo years old, her husband enlisted in the Navy. At that time they liv ed at 166 Meadow Lane in New Rochelle. She refused to accept the governme nt assistance due her as a military wife and scrubbed peoples' floors to s upport the family while he was away. In 1944, a second daughter (Mary Jan e) was born. Eight months later, her husband was reported Missing in Acti on when his ship was sunk by kamikazes in the Pacific off Okinawa. For se veral days she knew little until her brother (who was a radioman on the sh ip that rescued Howard) violated security to let her know he was alive. S he did not see him, however, for five months while he was in hospital reco vering from his wounds.
When he returned he did not want to attend college as they had discussed b efore the war. His position at the Post Office did not pay a great deal. W ith his GI benefits they were able to buy a duplex in at 5 Bayview Avenu e, New Rochelle where the children attended school as they grew. She was a ble to get a refrigerator after having used an icebox previously but sti ll did the wash by hand on a scrub board and by boiling on the stove. In J une 1946 the youngest daughter (Carol) was born.
Mary loved to entertain and have her friends visit. Her closest friends w ere Rose and Sammy, Peggy and Al whom she knew from New Rochelle High Scho ol. Family and friends getting together to visit and listen to music and s ing. Howard would play his guitar or ukelele.
They sold the duplex and moved to East Rockaway, Long Island, NY and boug ht a house on Ocean Avenue. She was delighted to have a house with a separ ate dining room and a place for the beautiful mahogany furniture Howard 's sister, Irene, had given them. She covered the chairs in a green and ch artreuse fabric of which I still have a piece. She finally got a wringer w ashing machine. Howard had to commute into New Rochelle every day sin ce he still worked for the Post Office there. Ocean Avenue was an extreme ly busy street and the children had to cross railroad tracks to get to Sai nt Raymond's School. Finances were very tight and gradually Mary had to se ll all her family heirlooms to keep up the payments. It was a very unhap py day when they had to sell and move back to New Rochelle where they beca me superintendents for an apartment compley on Circuit Road. Things we nt from bad to worse as the country went through a recession and the fami ly again moved to North Avenue to "the projects" where her brother Johh ny and his family lived. This was a very difficult time for her because H oward did not want her to work outside the home believing that to be a po or reflection on his ability to provide. The children took the bus to Bles sed Sacrament School. The Christmas the family spent there was so poor th at Mary and Howard gave one another no gifts, instead spending what litt le money they had giving each of the three girls one gift each.
After the projects, they got a position as caretakers for the Catholic Wom en's Club at 363 Pelham Road in New Rochelle. Howard and Irene did the out side work, cutting the huge lawn, raking immense piles of leaves and shove ling snow and ice. Mary and the girls kept up the inside, vacuuming and du sting, the parlor, the meeting hall with about one hundred gilded and upho lstered wooden chairs, twoe powder rooms where all kinds of rummage sale d onations were kept, and the ladies' bathroom, cleaning windows and the cha ndelier in the front hall. The kitchen and pantry were large rooms. The co oking range had eight burners and four ovens. Besides keeping everything c lean, she had to help set up and clean up after the monthly luncheons whi ch usually consisted of baked ham and scalloped potatoes for fifty or mo re women. It was a huge job taking from early morning until late at nig ht to complete. Except for minor help putting away dishes when the girls g ot home from school, she did it all. The girls hated it and protested with out realizing how difficult her day had been. The house was three stori es with the front hall, parlor, meeting hall, pantry and kitchen on the ma in floor, two powder rooms and ladies' bathroom on one side of the stairca se and the family's living room, master bedroom and bathroom on the oth er side. The third floor contained the attic and two rooms for the girl s' bedrooms. The entire house was subject to inspection regularly and ve ry little disarray was tolerated. The one consolation of living here was t hat Mary taught herself to play the piano, something she'd always want ed to do. In the evenings when all the work was done she would spend hou rs in the meeting room working through songs by ear until she could play t hem.They remained in this house until after Howard suffered his first hea rt attack.
Because the ladies learned of Howard's illness, they discontinued the fami ly as caretakers. Moving to an apartment at 3 Prospect Street in New Roch elle, the family was closer to Mary's sister, Margaret and to her mother w ho lived in an apartment on Center Avenue. Mary was glad to be only two b locks from Blessed Sacrament Church. She was also glad that now she cou ld work outside the home and quickly got a position at the College of N ew Rochelle where her circle of friends expanded. Howard had three more he art attacks and she had to divide her energy between work, church, home a nd the VA Hospital in the Bronx. Then on 3 September 1958 Howard di ed of a massive coronary. Mary had just returned froma meeting at church a nd found him shivering under a blanket in his chair. She called the docto rwho had to phone back and forth to arrange for an ambulance and hospit al admission. When the ambulance arrived, Mary accompanied Howard in the a mbulance where the attendant could not find the key for the oxygen. As s he waited outside the hospital room she saw the doctor shake his head a nd knew before he told her that she was now a widow.
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