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| Fenton Fitzpatrick's First Communion. E. 146th Street, Collinwood neighborhood, Cleveland, Ohio. 1949. Mom (Margaret Ann) near the center holding me (1 year old). Dad (Robert P.) is top right. |
Showing posts with label Collinwood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Collinwood. Show all posts
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Fitzpatrick Family First Communion 1949
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Fitzpatrick Family Party
I haven't posted anything on this blog in a while, why I'm not sure. The holiday season was very very busy with parties and family activities. It was really a wonderful time and a busy time. I can't count how many parties I was at! Or how much food and drink I consumed! Other than that, I don't have any excuses for my writer's block.
The day after Christmas, the Cleveland Fitzpatrick's had a family party at a condo party room in Highland Heights (eastern suburb of Cleveland). The party organizers were the children of Uncle Skip (Fenton Sr.) Fitzpatrick and Aunt Mary (nee Allen), two of the most wonderful people who have ever walked the earth. Skip and Mary had 9 children, about 25 grandchildren, and now, about 25 great grandchildren. Luckily they invited the Coughlin's, Brock's, and Langer's, and other Fitzpatrick relatives. At first I thought I would be an interloper there, but I was greeted with open-arms by my cousins and their spouses. As I talked to folks at the party, ate their food and drank their beer, I started thinking: Hey, I'm as much a Fitzpatrick as anyone here! My mother was the daughter of Margaret Ann Sullivan Fitzpatrick and Jack Fitzpatrick. The other guests were children, grandchildren, great grandchildren of Fenton Fitzpatrick (Sr.) and Mary Allen, and Fenton Sr. was the son of Margaret Ann Sullivan Fitzpatrick. So I belonged there--and was treated as if I belonged.
I can't remember everyone at the party, but I do recall seeing cousins Tim, Eddie, Dick, Mike, Joe, Chris, and Suzanne Fitzpatrick. Fenton Jr. and Mary Joan were not able to attend, making their homes in Florida and Texas. Also at the party were the wives and husbands of my cousins, and I love the spouses of my Fitzpatrick cousins as much as the cousins themselves: Queenie, Pat (born in Westport, County Mayo), Gary, Pattie, Karen, Nancy, Tom, Linda.
This family all came from our grandfather Jack Fitzpatrick, born January 3rd, 1880 in the now-gone quarry village of Bluestone, in Euclid Township, and Margaret Ann Sullivan, born 1885 in the quarry township of Brownhelm, near the city of Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio. Jack became a yard conductor for the New York Central Railroad in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, and Margaret was a housewife, raising her children, Al, Julia (named after her grandmother, Julia Broughan Fitzpatrick), Skip (formally, Fenton, named after his grandfather who emigrated from Ireland), identical twins Dick and Don, and the baby of the family, my mother, Margaret Ann.
This was a blue-collar family: Al was a railroad engineer; Julia was a housewife (and held other jobs); Skip was a machinist/welder for New York Central Railroad; Don worked for Republic Steel in quality control; Dick did all sorts of things--and at times did no paying work--I remember when he worked in the Euclid sewer system; my Mom spent her life as a housewife.
The children of the above had the last names Fitzpatrick, Brock, Langer, and Coughlin (I am one of those children). We have a tremendous range of professions: Fenton, Eddie, and Mike worked for the railroad; Tim worked for AT&T; Dick was an accountant; Joe a telephone worker; Chris, who has Downs Syndrome, has worked off an on (there are some funny stories there!); I think that Mary Joan and Suzanne have spent much of their lives as housewives--a position of honor in our families, let there be no doubt. The Brock children have had all sorts of interesting jobs: Maggie made a great career as a radio personality on major stations in Chicago and in the Phoenix area. Susie is a Ph.D. psychologist; Luke, I think, is a carpenter and cabinet maker; Bill is a computer specialist for Cleveland State University.
The children of Al Fitzpatrick and Catherine (nee Pellerin) Fitzpatrick have known a lot of tragedy: Tommy was killed in Vietnam at age 21 (in April 1969); Jack was murdered in Cleveland (in an astonishing scenario that I have described elsewhere in this blog) December 21, 1971; Jerry lives in Florida and I think her worked for the telephone company; Sheila married Big Eddie Langer, and though now divorced, has wonderful children and grandchildren.
The Coughlin part of the Fitzpatrick clan has also done well: Bob a college teacher; Denny a car mechanic in San Diego; Mary Ellen a school secretary in Medina County; Kev a foreman in a roofing company in Willoughby; and Jimmy maintains and repairs printing presses. There are lots of Coughlin children, with Denny and Mary Ellen having grandchildren.
This Fitzpatrick-Brock-Langer-Coughlin clan has really been something, has maintained closeness and a great love of family, and has made much progress educationally and economically.
(I realize that I have said very little about the spouses of the clan! I hope I can get to it some day soon!).
The day after Christmas, the Cleveland Fitzpatrick's had a family party at a condo party room in Highland Heights (eastern suburb of Cleveland). The party organizers were the children of Uncle Skip (Fenton Sr.) Fitzpatrick and Aunt Mary (nee Allen), two of the most wonderful people who have ever walked the earth. Skip and Mary had 9 children, about 25 grandchildren, and now, about 25 great grandchildren. Luckily they invited the Coughlin's, Brock's, and Langer's, and other Fitzpatrick relatives. At first I thought I would be an interloper there, but I was greeted with open-arms by my cousins and their spouses. As I talked to folks at the party, ate their food and drank their beer, I started thinking: Hey, I'm as much a Fitzpatrick as anyone here! My mother was the daughter of Margaret Ann Sullivan Fitzpatrick and Jack Fitzpatrick. The other guests were children, grandchildren, great grandchildren of Fenton Fitzpatrick (Sr.) and Mary Allen, and Fenton Sr. was the son of Margaret Ann Sullivan Fitzpatrick. So I belonged there--and was treated as if I belonged.
I can't remember everyone at the party, but I do recall seeing cousins Tim, Eddie, Dick, Mike, Joe, Chris, and Suzanne Fitzpatrick. Fenton Jr. and Mary Joan were not able to attend, making their homes in Florida and Texas. Also at the party were the wives and husbands of my cousins, and I love the spouses of my Fitzpatrick cousins as much as the cousins themselves: Queenie, Pat (born in Westport, County Mayo), Gary, Pattie, Karen, Nancy, Tom, Linda.
This family all came from our grandfather Jack Fitzpatrick, born January 3rd, 1880 in the now-gone quarry village of Bluestone, in Euclid Township, and Margaret Ann Sullivan, born 1885 in the quarry township of Brownhelm, near the city of Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio. Jack became a yard conductor for the New York Central Railroad in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, and Margaret was a housewife, raising her children, Al, Julia (named after her grandmother, Julia Broughan Fitzpatrick), Skip (formally, Fenton, named after his grandfather who emigrated from Ireland), identical twins Dick and Don, and the baby of the family, my mother, Margaret Ann.
This was a blue-collar family: Al was a railroad engineer; Julia was a housewife (and held other jobs); Skip was a machinist/welder for New York Central Railroad; Don worked for Republic Steel in quality control; Dick did all sorts of things--and at times did no paying work--I remember when he worked in the Euclid sewer system; my Mom spent her life as a housewife.
The children of the above had the last names Fitzpatrick, Brock, Langer, and Coughlin (I am one of those children). We have a tremendous range of professions: Fenton, Eddie, and Mike worked for the railroad; Tim worked for AT&T; Dick was an accountant; Joe a telephone worker; Chris, who has Downs Syndrome, has worked off an on (there are some funny stories there!); I think that Mary Joan and Suzanne have spent much of their lives as housewives--a position of honor in our families, let there be no doubt. The Brock children have had all sorts of interesting jobs: Maggie made a great career as a radio personality on major stations in Chicago and in the Phoenix area. Susie is a Ph.D. psychologist; Luke, I think, is a carpenter and cabinet maker; Bill is a computer specialist for Cleveland State University.
The children of Al Fitzpatrick and Catherine (nee Pellerin) Fitzpatrick have known a lot of tragedy: Tommy was killed in Vietnam at age 21 (in April 1969); Jack was murdered in Cleveland (in an astonishing scenario that I have described elsewhere in this blog) December 21, 1971; Jerry lives in Florida and I think her worked for the telephone company; Sheila married Big Eddie Langer, and though now divorced, has wonderful children and grandchildren.
The Coughlin part of the Fitzpatrick clan has also done well: Bob a college teacher; Denny a car mechanic in San Diego; Mary Ellen a school secretary in Medina County; Kev a foreman in a roofing company in Willoughby; and Jimmy maintains and repairs printing presses. There are lots of Coughlin children, with Denny and Mary Ellen having grandchildren.
This Fitzpatrick-Brock-Langer-Coughlin clan has really been something, has maintained closeness and a great love of family, and has made much progress educationally and economically.
(I realize that I have said very little about the spouses of the clan! I hope I can get to it some day soon!).
Monday, December 8, 2008
Margaret Ann Fitzpatrick Coughlin
Today marks the 5th anniversary of the passing of my Mom, Margaret Ann Fitzpatrick Coughlin. She was known as Margaret Ann by most people, as "Gertann" by my Dad, and as Marge or Margaret by some others.
Mom was born in Cleveland on November 10th, 1923, the baby of her family. Her older siblings were Al, Julia ("Dudie"), Fenton ("Skip"), and identical twins Dick and Don. Her Dad was John ("Jack") Francis Fitzpatrick, born in the quarry village of Bluestone, Euclid Township, Ohio, and Margaret Ann Sullivan, born in the quarry area of Brownhelm Township, Lorain County, Ohio. Jack worked for the railroad as a yard conducter and Margaret was a homemaker.
My Mom first lived on East 169th [1188, E. 169th, I believe]Street, in the Euclid Beach-Grovewood area of Cleveland. As a toddler she started speaking Slovenian because of her daily contact with Slovenian speakers in that neighborhood. I think that was a signal for her parents to move! And they moved just about a mile away to a house on Tarrymore Road, a stone's throw from Lake Erie (I think the current address of that home is 17513 Tarrymore Rd., Cleveland, OH 44119; http://www.zillow.com/ gives the date the house was built as 1926). That's where she grew up, and that's where her mother died on March 18, 1940.
My mother was baptized as St. Jerome's Church in Cleveland, and attended Holy Cross Church and school after the move to Tarrymore Drive. She attended Villa Angela Academy for a while, but left that school (she might have been kicked out over a trivial issue, like playing hookie one day--it's not exactly clear to us). Thereafter, she attended Notre Dame Academy on Ansel Road in Cleveland, and graduated from high school in 1943. She loved the Notre Dame nuns and handled the long two-streetcar ride to school with no problem.
I think after high school Mom lived with her sister or brothers in various places, including Willoughby, Ohio. Some time around 1946, she met my Dad, Robert ("Bob") Paul Coughlin, who grew up on Hayes Avenue (nowdays the address is 1136 Hayes Ave., Willoughby, OH 44094) in Willoughby-on-the-Lake. They were married in August of 1947, at Immaculate Conception Church in Willoughby, and I, their firstborn, was born in June of 1948.
Mom and Dad made their first home at 1120 Windermere Drive, in Willoughby, about 200 feet west of my Coughlin grandparents. Their home was a tiny bungalow, maybe 700-800 square feet in size. Denny was born in June of 1950 and the house was beginning to feel crowded so they began thinking of getting a bigger house. Dad's first job after getting out of the Navy (he served on small ships in the South Pacific 1942-45) was in the Cleveland Trust Bank in downtown Willoughby. When he told the bank that he wanted to get a mortgage to build a new house (we're talking a $9000 house here--brand new), the bank told Dad no, that he didn't make enough money to get a mortgage loan. At that point Dad probably told them goodbye (but not in such polite language) and went off looking for a new job. He finally secured a job as an electrician at New York Central Railroad in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland. I have no idea how Dad talked himself into that job. He was no more an electrician at that time than I am now. But when you have a growing family, you do what you have to do to get a job. New York Central was near Mom's old neighborhood, and her brother Skip lived practically next door to the NYC yards and worked there as a welder/machinist. Dad's brothers Fran, Jack, and Bill also worked there, as did his in-laws Skip and Al Fitzpatrick. NYC must have been an Irish-mafia operation back then! Check out this link with all the Fitzpatrick relatives aboard a train at the Collinwood Yards: http://www.fitzpatrickrailserv.com/HISTORY.htm
Mom was born in Cleveland on November 10th, 1923, the baby of her family. Her older siblings were Al, Julia ("Dudie"), Fenton ("Skip"), and identical twins Dick and Don. Her Dad was John ("Jack") Francis Fitzpatrick, born in the quarry village of Bluestone, Euclid Township, Ohio, and Margaret Ann Sullivan, born in the quarry area of Brownhelm Township, Lorain County, Ohio. Jack worked for the railroad as a yard conducter and Margaret was a homemaker.
My Mom first lived on East 169th [1188, E. 169th, I believe]Street, in the Euclid Beach-Grovewood area of Cleveland. As a toddler she started speaking Slovenian because of her daily contact with Slovenian speakers in that neighborhood. I think that was a signal for her parents to move! And they moved just about a mile away to a house on Tarrymore Road, a stone's throw from Lake Erie (I think the current address of that home is 17513 Tarrymore Rd., Cleveland, OH 44119; http://www.zillow.com/ gives the date the house was built as 1926). That's where she grew up, and that's where her mother died on March 18, 1940.
My mother was baptized as St. Jerome's Church in Cleveland, and attended Holy Cross Church and school after the move to Tarrymore Drive. She attended Villa Angela Academy for a while, but left that school (she might have been kicked out over a trivial issue, like playing hookie one day--it's not exactly clear to us). Thereafter, she attended Notre Dame Academy on Ansel Road in Cleveland, and graduated from high school in 1943. She loved the Notre Dame nuns and handled the long two-streetcar ride to school with no problem.
I think after high school Mom lived with her sister or brothers in various places, including Willoughby, Ohio. Some time around 1946, she met my Dad, Robert ("Bob") Paul Coughlin, who grew up on Hayes Avenue (nowdays the address is 1136 Hayes Ave., Willoughby, OH 44094) in Willoughby-on-the-Lake. They were married in August of 1947, at Immaculate Conception Church in Willoughby, and I, their firstborn, was born in June of 1948.
Mom and Dad made their first home at 1120 Windermere Drive, in Willoughby, about 200 feet west of my Coughlin grandparents. Their home was a tiny bungalow, maybe 700-800 square feet in size. Denny was born in June of 1950 and the house was beginning to feel crowded so they began thinking of getting a bigger house. Dad's first job after getting out of the Navy (he served on small ships in the South Pacific 1942-45) was in the Cleveland Trust Bank in downtown Willoughby. When he told the bank that he wanted to get a mortgage to build a new house (we're talking a $9000 house here--brand new), the bank told Dad no, that he didn't make enough money to get a mortgage loan. At that point Dad probably told them goodbye (but not in such polite language) and went off looking for a new job. He finally secured a job as an electrician at New York Central Railroad in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland. I have no idea how Dad talked himself into that job. He was no more an electrician at that time than I am now. But when you have a growing family, you do what you have to do to get a job. New York Central was near Mom's old neighborhood, and her brother Skip lived practically next door to the NYC yards and worked there as a welder/machinist. Dad's brothers Fran, Jack, and Bill also worked there, as did his in-laws Skip and Al Fitzpatrick. NYC must have been an Irish-mafia operation back then! Check out this link with all the Fitzpatrick relatives aboard a train at the Collinwood Yards: http://www.fitzpatrickrailserv.com/HISTORY.htm
Here is a funny story my Mom used to tell me about the Willoughby-on-the-Lake neighborhood: One day when I was a baby or toddler, she was walking me around the neighborhood when a crow landed on my shoulder. My mom was real frightened and left me on the sidewalk and ran into the house. It turns out the crow could talk! It was a tame crow owned by someone in the neighborhood. I think it's just an unsubstantiated rumor that the crow uttered "nevermore!"
Some time around June 1951, a fateful accident happened in that Willoughby neighborhood that affected my Mom, Dad, me, Denny, and, I imagine, the whole family not yet born:
[more coming]
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