I'm about the only one left. Most of Mrs. Flanagan's friends are gone. Most of the old neighbors are dead. But she had a lot of friends. The McCarthy's was with 'em. You could get a lot of information there, but they're both dead.
It was a beloved family. The Flanagans were the family in Rockland. Not only nice people but their children were all athletes and they played in all the games -- baseball, basketball, football.
Oh, people always were invited to eat with them. I always used to be invited if I went over there around dinner time. You know, Miss Flanagan would make great big soups, chowders, you know. She would make great big soups and the children used to come home at noon time for their dinners then.
That's when I was in school. And she, no matter who came in, she always said, "Won't you sit down and have something to eat?"
Well, they had benches next to the table. They would line the children up -- oh, three of four of them on that long bench.
There was always enough room. Ooh, she was a wonderful cook. She used to make great big cakes, pies, have holiday dinners, birthday dinners for all the children. 'Course you remember she had 14 children.
When I moved there, there was 14 children. But they were gradually getting up in age. We didn't have 14 there too long because they were getting growin' -- growing up. And the boys did any kind of work they could find. I know they did. They their work in different places. There was always room for a Flanagan.
She was always happy. No matter what, she always had a smile. She could always laugh. She had a lot of cares on her mind -- she was such a good Christian lady it didn't make any difference what happened. She was a very thoughtful person, very kind person. I couldn't say nice enough things about her.
Miss Flanagan was always with a smile. Always. I never saw her otherwise in my life. Except when her children died. She greeted everybody when they came in the house, you know, to say a prayer.
She began doing things after the children grew up. She was always ho,e. As far as I know, she never began going out until her children were grown up and out working. Yes, the older children looked after the younger children.
Mr. Flanagan was always very sedate, very proper in every way. He was all business. He was a very valued employee down at the post office, most valued. I know that for a fact. As I say, he was very proper.
Oh, I guess he kept a garden. It was right between the Flanagan house and my house. He had that whole -- oh, it was right from Lower Street out as far as he owned, almost, a big garden and he gave to everybody. He used to give us most everything he had. Like cucumbers and corn and peas, beans -- all those things. You know, vegetables.
He was always doing things for neighbors. I don't know too much what he did about the house, inside, because he was always working.
Mrs. Flanagan died of cancer. She was stricken very suddenly with it. She was getting ready to go to a St. Patrick's Day party down at the recreation building. She had refreshments all made and she couldn't go because she couldn't hold a thing in her stomach. It grew from that to worse and worse. She did go to the hospital, but they brought her back home because there was no help.
I felt so terrible when I found out for sure that there was no hope for her. I said, "What am I going to do?!"
And she said, "Remember, Edna, there will always be a Flanagan." And think of it. We've got a Flanagan living in my house now.
She always could laugh, remember that. nothing ever, ever stopped her from laughing -- except course when she's lose one of her children/ That would be different. But then she never wavered -- she was so true to her faith.
Whenever the opportunity presented itself, she'd love to talk about it. But she was never a pusher, no. She would answer anything that someone wanted to know. She was always ready and willing to answer the,.
Of course, you see, I haven't always been a Catholic. I went into the Catholic Church about 40 years ago. I was an Epsicopalian.
Oh no. Oh no. They're not the same. What they'll say to me is what's the difference. I'll say there's so much difference there's no use to try to talk about it.
Well,I can tell you about some of the rooms in the house. The front room in the house upstairs was the mother and father's room. That's where she died. Second floor.
The stove was right there by the dining room door on the first floor. It went into the living room, a space there. It was kind of little. And they had an oil burner there. an oil burner in the kitchen, ayuh. And of course they had the big kitchen. Then they had the dining room. They had a nice dining room.
The house was cold. Like all of us in years gone by I've been awful cold in my house because we didn't haven o oil burners. They were really better equipped than we were ' cause they had oil burners and I had to shovel coal.
And you know the living room. And you know the sun porch on the left side of the house. It was built for Eileen when Eileen had tuberculosis and she couldn't get out of there. She died there.
I remember when Eileen died because I was up there every day. She practically lived in the porch upstairs. They built it. In the sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment