Part of My Family--May 1957, at Susie Brock's First Communion Party

Bobby Coughlin, age 8; Aunt Catherine Fitzpatrick; Dad, age 35

Maggie Brock just sent me this scan of an old photograph. It was taken at Susie Brock's First Communion party, in May of 1957 [my guess]. There's me, a little boy with the butch haircut I had until college. Dad just turned 35 years old. He's wearing a bow-tie. He was very dark complected, with almost black hair. Dad was drop-dead handsome in those days. He looks very happy here. To Dad's left is Aunt Catherine Fitzpatrick. She was a wonderful lady, who would later suffer two incredible tragedies--the death in Vietnam of her 21-year-old son, Tommy (1969), and the murder of her oldest child, Jack, in 1971--in Higbees in Downtown Cleveland.

Every year we had another First Communion party, sometimes more than one. We had lots of cousins. These parties were great fun.

There must have been some sort of rule that in every family picture someone had to be drinking a beer. Here Dad is drinking a Carling Black Label.