The Quinn's and the Coughlin's

This past week I had 2 amazing phone calls. The first was from Tom Quinn, the 64-year-old son of my Dad's cousin and best friend, also named Tom Quinn. Then last night I got a call from the older Tom Quinn--88 years old, in good health, with a mind sharp as a tack.

Conversation with Younger Tom

Younger Tom lives in Sacramento, California, and I believe works for the state. He had spent 20 years living in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese. In the 1960's he lived in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco and worked and played with some of the great musicians of that time and place (Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the like). Younger Tom ran across a blog entry I wrote on the passing of another Coughlin relative, Gene Slusser (the son of Warren and May Coughlin Slusser). I asked Younger Tom if he knew of another of our Coughlin cousin who had just died--Jack Pendergast. I don't believe he knew of Jack. Jack would have been pleased to learn of all these new connections!

Younger Tom proceeded to tell me a little about his siblings. They are scattered around the country and are quite successful. He has a brother, Chuck, who is an attorney in Kent, Ohio. A brother, Jim, who is a physician in Florida (not far from older Tom Quinn). Another brother, Mark, is a chef working near Disney World. There is a sister, Carol Schell, in Cincinnati (a teacher, I believe); another sister, Pat, in Texas; and another sister, Betsy, in Colorado.

Tom told me his Dad, older Tom, is the son of my great aunt, Angie Coughlin Quinn--my Grampa Connie Coughlin's sister. Older Tom's wife of about 65 years is Elizabeth (Betsy) Jewell Quinn, whose heritage can be traced back to the Mayflower! Older Tom met Betsy while taking some Navy training at Oberlin College during World War II.

Conversation with Older Tom

Last night I talked to older Tom Quinn of Osteen, Florida. I remembered that Tom and his family once lived on Kirtland Road, in Willoughby, Ohio--and Tom said that I had it correct--they lived at 4079 Kirtland Road. I vaguely remember being at that house as a kid; in my mind I remembered it as a kind of a small farm, right across the street from the Andrews School for Girls property. Tom said he graduated from Willoughby Union High School in 1940 and he was my Dad's best friend growing up. Dad lived about 4 miles from Tom, in Willoughby-on-the-Lake, and also attended Willoughby Union, graduating in 1941. I asked Tom specifically if he remembered my Uncle Jack Coughlin. He said Uncle Jack was a "lost soul," even before the trauma of his World War II years. Jack became a serious alcoholic, suffered from many illnesses during his troubled life, and died of cancer in August of 1970 at age 49.

Tom Quinn told me that after Pearl Harbor both he and my Dad joined the Navy. Dad took his physical, and when the doctor detected wheezing, my Dad said he was just getting over a cold. The truth of the matter is that Dad had suffered from very severe asthma, and had to lie to get into the Navy. Before Tom and Dad headed off to Great Lakes Naval Training Center (north of Chicago on Lake Michigan), my Gramma Cora Coughlin asked Tom to take care of my Dad if he had a severe asthma attack. Tom was to administer a couple of medicines that were used in those days to treat asthma. He was to make a kind of tent with a blanket over my Dad's head and Dad was to smoke "asthma cigarettes"; a second kind of medicine, "asthma powder," whatever that was, was also burned and inhaled. My Dad had only one serious asthma attack during his training, and Tom followed Gramma's instructions, possibly saving Dad's life. Some time during naval training, my Dad was chosen to be a signalman, and took some training at the University of Illinois. Tom was sent to Oberlin College to become a pilot and an officer (never quite getting past a geometry class at Oberlin, probably a result of the bare-bones education received at Willoughby Union High School). I guess it was at Oberlin that Tom met Betsy Jewell. And it was there that he got a good sense of his intelligence and potential.

I believe Tom mentioned that he has some 18 grandchildren and a couple of great-grandchildren. That means I have many more new cousins, located all over the country! I wish Jack Pendergast was around to learn of all these new cousins!

Asthma powder. I googled the term "asthma powder" and possibly located the medicine that my Dad inhaled when he had severe asthma. Click on this link for information on this medicine: http://www.drugstoremuseum.com/sections/level_info2.php?level_id=211&level=2

Here is a recipe I located for asthma powder at http://chestofbooks.com/health/herbs/Otto-Mausert/Herb-Formulas-from-Herbs-for-Health/Formula-No-6-Asthma-Inhalation-Powder.html:

Description
This section is from the "Herb Formulas" extract from the "Herbs for Health" book, by Otto Mausert
Formula No. 6: Asthma Inhalation Powder
Note: This powder is used by Inhalation only; The powder is burned and only the smoke is inhaled.
1. Stramonium Leaves Ounces 6
2. Henbane Leaves Ounces 1/2
3. Lobelia Herb Ounces 1/2
4. Belladonna Leaves Ounces 1/2
5. Cascarilla Bark Ounces 1/2
6. Nitrate of Potash Ounces 1/2

Mix well and keep in a dry place, using powdered material.Directions: Place about half a teaspoonful of the mixture on a piece of tin or porcelain, light it with a match and inhale the fumes through the Nostrils. This should be done immediately upon sensing the approach of an Asthmatic Paroxysm.

There were lots of other asthma cures and powders available, as seen at this web site: http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Henley-s-20th-Century-Formulas-Recipes-Processes-Vol1/Asthma-Cures.html