Robby's First Communion: A Poem

Robby's First Communion

Robby,

Dear Grandson who shares my name.

Nana Linda and I want you to know

That we rejoice over your First Communion!

Mine was on May 20, 1956, at St. William’s in Euclid.

Nana’s was two years later at St. Margaret Mary in Cincinnati.

In those days the First Communion classes were huge,

And hundreds of boys and girls were in line–

The girls dressed almost like brides, white gowns, gloves, and veils,

The boys dressed like little Gentlemen.

It was a day of the greatest happiness, both in Church,

And later at parties at our homes:

Everybody was there, grandmas, grampas, aunts, uncles, cousins,

A wonderful party, a wonderful day.

Your Big Day will be wonderful too, Robby,

A day you’ll still remember when you are an old Grampa like me,

Privileged to see your own grandkids make their First Communions.

Hurray for you, Robby!

We love you, God loves you,

Your family loves you,

And always will!

[Grampa Bob/Brrr, May 7, 2022]

Coughlin Family--July 6, 2013

Coughlin Family, Day after Emily and Brian's Wedding. Chardon, Ohio.

Couple More Christmas Photos

Above: Eddie Kleppel, with Colin on his shoulders, and Julia Coughlin Kleppel.

That's not really Colin's beer! Emily in background.

Froehliche Weihnachten von der Coughlin-Kleppel-Homan Familie!

Bob's Christmas presents, a hiking stick and a new jacket.

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

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!).

Memory Poem

Driving Home From Willoughby, 1959

After Thanksgiving Dinner at Gramma and Grampa’s,
Dad, Uncle Jack, and Grampa located a davenport or bed
For a half-hour’s nap, hypnotized by the turkey, the full belly, the beer.

Denny and I went out to the field between the Sullivan’s and Coughlin’s,
Climbed the wild black cherry, while Mary Ellen and Kev
Played in the piles of silver and sugar maple leaves.
Mom carried Baby Jimmy on her hip, talked with Gramma,
Dried the dishes.

And then, around 7, we hopped into the old Ford,
Mom and Dad in front, 3 kids on the back seat, Kev on the hump,
And Jim stuffed up on the shelf by the rear window
(no seat belts, no rules in those days!).

We’d start the long drive home down Lakeshore Boulevard
Saying the rosary, me leading the prayers,
The Joyful Mysteries, 5 decades of Hail Mary’s,
Sprinkled with Our Father’s, Glory Be’s, and the Apostles Creed.

And when we finished (and we were the fastest rosary sayers on the planet!),
We’d sing every song we knew, full-throated:
“Anchors Away My Boys,” to “Row Row Row Your Boat,” in rounds,
To “She’s My Darling She’s My Daisy, She’s Cross-eyed, She’s Crazy.”

And then, after a bit of silent driving, we’d turn south
Down East 266 Street and home:
By now Jimmy, Kevin, Mary Ellen asleep,
Denny and Bobby groggy,

Mom and Dad spent and quietly happy.

Robert M. Coughlin
Thanksgiving 2008