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Note: Lullaby for a fussing child:
Today is the day
They're giving babies away
With a half-of-pound of tea.
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Have you ever gone into an Irishman's shanty?
Where water is scarce, but whiskey is plenty,
A two-legged stool and a table to match,
A door on the house without any latch.
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Sweet Rosie O'Grady, she was a singer by birth.
She grew tired of living and wanted to leave this earth.
So she swallowed a tape measure. Dying by inches was hard,
So she went in the alley where she could die by the yard.
Mollie O'Toole ditties, often repeated by her daughter, Rose.
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Mollie is revered in our family. Memories revolve around the ditties she sang and her Irish wisdom and wit. ("People are dying this year who have never died before.") She was a kind person, particularly with children. Pat Westlund recalled the huge doughnuts Mollie made. Word of this spread among the kids in Iona and all eventually came to her kitchen door asking for one. Pete was perturbed, but it was great sport for Mollie. When grandchildren visited, they were treated to fresh bread with grape jelly and coffee � cold coffee, suitable for dunking. The kids enjoyed the "adult" treat. As a young woman, Mollie worked as a waitress and cook at the Morton Hotel. Pete was a regular customer; their courtship began there.
Memories of her final days are much more somber. Her son Gerald served as a sailor during World War II. Mollie's evenings were spent in her small rocking chair by the radio, gravely following daily reports from the South Pacific.
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Heart Attack Is Fatal to Mrs. J.P. Gaasch, Friday
The Iona community lost one of its most respected and beloved women last Friday, when, after a brief illness, Mrs. J.P. Gaasch breathed her last. She had been ill but a few days and her death therefore came as a shock to her many friends and acquaintances. Death was attributed to a heart complication.
Mrs. Gaasch, nee Mary Margaret O'Toole, was born at Birch [Cooley], near the present city of Fairfax, Minn., on October 1, 1871, and would have been 73 years of age on her next birthday. There she grew to womanhood. On July 17, 1900, she was united in marriage to J.P. Gaasch, the ceremony taking place at [Morton], Minn. For a few years after marriage she and her husband made their home at Morton and later moved to Dexter. Thirty-six years ago they removed to Iona, where Mr. Gaasch has been engaged in the lumber business, and that little village has since been her home.
To their union were born four children, all of whom are living, namely: Gerald, A.C.-M.M., now in the Pacific theatre; Frank, at home; Rose, Mrs. Ed Ehleringer, Iona; and Mary, Mrs. J.J. Hames, of Berwyn, Ill. A niece, Mrs. F.W. Casey, whom she reared since early childhood, and one brother, James O'Toole, of Plentywood, Mont., and two sisters, Mrs. Wm. Bradkey, of Minneapolis, and Mrs. J.S. [Healy], of Austin, also survive.
Mrs. Gaasch was a kindly, patient, God-fearing woman. Her family and her church were her two great interests in her life, and she poured her full devotion into them.
Funeral services took place Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock, Rev. Fr. Stephen Majerus singing the requiem high mass at the Church of St. Columba. Pall bearers were Mike Biren, Frank Jasper, Joe Ehleringer, Ben Hermeling, Joe Kass and Charles Galles.
Relatives from a distance who attended the last sad rites were Mrs. J.J. Hames and son, Billy, of Berwyn, Ill.; Mrs. Wm. Bradkey of Minneapolis, Mr. and Mrs. J.S. [Healy] of Austin; James O'Toole of Plentywood, Mont.; Mr. and Mrs. F.W. Casey of Wahpeton, N.D.; Rosemary Casey of Rosemount, Minn.; Helen Gaasch, a nurse cadet, of Aberdeen, S.D.; Mr. and Mrs. Ed Gaasch, Mr. and Mrs. James Clancy and Frank Gaasch, all of Morton, and Mrs. Glenn Tompkins of Lamberton, Minn.
Murray County Herald (Slayton, Murray County, Minnesota), 13 July 1944. page 4, columns 1 and 2; Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
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