A few times when we were courting in the evening, Rosemary and I walked to a park about four blocks west of the Keene house. It always seemed so quiet and peaceful there. We sat on the swings and talked for quite a while, and then just walked back to her home.
Sometimes we would walk to Bobs hot-dog stand on the corner of Montrose Ave. and Keystone Ave. and, buy a dog, fries and a coke. We would sit there for quite a while , just talking.
A few times when Uncles Danny, John and Father Tom were visiting Grandma and Grandpa, they we would send us to Cominski’s Tavern to buy a bottle of whiskey for the group. Although we were only fifteen and sixteen years old, Cominski knew who Rosemary was and sold us the bottle. That could never happen today without a lawsuit>
During the summer the Keenan family had two picnics. One was a family reunion and the other was the KC picnic. All her aunts and uncles and friends came to the affairs and stayed until late at night. There was a tremendous amount of food and, seeing that they were all Irish, a huge amount of beer and whiskey. They were absolutely great days for everyone.
When we were dating and after we were first married, Rose and I spent most Sunday mornings at the Keene house. Grandpa made breakfast and soon after prepared dinner. The dinners were a feast. I don’t think I ever had dinners as good as the ones that he prepared. We ate in the dining room and it was arranged nicer than most fancy restaurants. He was a master at cooking, even though he took a “sip” every now and then while he was cooking.
There were a few days when Rose and I were single, and sometimes soon after we were married, that we went fishing together at the Des Plaines river for carp or bullheads, or at Lake Michigan for Lake Perch. Quite a few hot summer evenings we went to Lake Michigan fishing, just to cool off.
Some hot summer nights when we lived on Kedzie Ave., we slept outside on the back porch on blankets. We lived on the second floor and it was cooler there.
When we lived in Florida, I was working as an outside carpenter. (Whenever I could find a job) Most days when I got home from work, Rose would have a picnic basket with our dinner. I would shower and then Rosemary, Grant and I ate our dinners at the ocean where we stayed until dark. (Scott was there also, just not born yet.)
It was very rare, when we lived in Florida, that we were home. Most of our free time we were either at the ocean or at Lake Worth. We loved it there but, missed our family and friends. (A job would have helped also)
In Florida Bob and I rebuilt the transmission for the 1950 Buick I owned. He also helped me prepare the car so I could spray paint it. It was a beautiful two tone paint job..
When we moved to Monitor Street, we began Courtesy Floor Company. It was a lot of fun. We were broke all the time but, it didn't seem to bother either of us.
Our Italian neighbor operated a hot-dog and beef stand two blocks east of our house. They lived two houses north of our house and when they were cooking the beef, the smell drifted past our house. It smelled fantastic. Sometimes Rose and I would search all our pockets for a couple of quarters so we could walk to the stand and buy two beef sandwiches.
Soon after we moved into Monitor St., Raymond moved in with us. Fortunately there was a finished bedroom upstairs.
When we lived in Chicago and Norridge we went dancing at the Aragon Ballroom two or three times a year. We always went there with Rita and Bob whenever they visited Chicago. That ended when we moved to the farm.
When Grant was five years old I taught him to play a guitar. After a while I took him to guitar lessons at El Ray Music store on the 60 hundred block on Irving Park. He quit after a few months.
When we lived in Norridge Rosemary and I were working Courtesy Floor Company. We had a couple of Russell Keene’s college friends help me from time to time. Many times they visited in the evening to either play pool, or just to sit around and play guitars and sing.
During these years Renard and Marianne and Rosemary and I visited quite often. Sometimes we were at his house and other times at our house. We usually played pool together or sat around playing guitars and singing. Naturally we did enjoy a few beers at this time.
During the last two winters that we lived in Norridge, we flooded our back yard in order to create an ice-skating pond. I would go outside late at night and hose down the ice every few days in order to keep the ice smooth. Grant, Scott, Cindy and Kurt were old enough to skate. Russell was only two and three years old at the time.
During the years in Norridge, Grandma and Grandpa visited us almost every Sunday. Grandpa and Rosemary made the lunch and dinner. After dinner we usually played cards, and afterwards I would drive them home.
It was an unwritten rule that when Grandma and Grandpa came to the house, he would ask if I had any beer in the house. I was supposed to say, "No, lets go to the store and buy some". We drove to the tavern, bought a twelve pack of beer, but before we could leave, he always had two shots and a beer. I could only handle one beer.
In the summer months in Norridge, Grant, Scott and Cindy walked about six to eight blocks alone to a park to swimming lessons. We wanted all our kids to learn to swim. They had to cross Lawrence Ave. and Canfield Ave. (busy streets). Grant and Scott were already used to walking alone in Chicago because they came with me to work many days during summer and vacation days. I would send them to the nearest restaurant for coffee and donuts. Grant and Scott also walked to school every day. The school was only about three blocks, as the crow flies.
A few times when I was cutting the grass, I noticed a stack of used matches laying by our house. I told Rose that she should check Grant and Scott from time to time. Oh yea, she got them. Like all kids, they liked fire.
A person gave me a fireplace face. It seemed like it weighed a ton. Renard and a couple friends helped bring it to our house. I was in the process of remodeling a room and decided to put in a fireplace. I must have moved it a dozen times until I finally installed it.
We decided to dig a basement under our house in Norridge. I was going to do it myself but, after a few days of hard work and no progress, I decided to hire a contractor. The man drove the cat under the house and removed all the soil. It seemed scary at the time. A few months later, the concrete walls and floor were poured and, we had a nice basement under our house.
When we built this house, I took Grant and Scott with me quite a few days. They helped nail down the deck and carry lumber to me. They helped me when I needed another person to snap a line or hold something while I nailed it. They helped when we put a four board fence around our property. They helped paint the fences and helped with many other major projects. We had a lot of fun building together.
Many days while I was building this house, Rosemary brought me lunch . We would sit outside on the grass or sit on the tailgate of the car and dream of what our life would be like when we moved here. We walked through our unfinished house talking about how the progress was moving ahead. This place looks like heaven on earth to us. When she left for home in Norridge, I always wished she could stay with me here. I was always completely happy when we were together and neither of us liked to be apart, even for a few hours.
In 1975 Rosemary entered two horses to be ridden in the wagon train. Grant, Scott and Cindy rode Sundown and Cindy horse from the northern edge of Illinois to the Arlington Race track. At that point we left the wagon train. It was great fun to be involved in this ride. Rosemary and I shot many pictures and movies of the day and early evening.
I don't know if anyone knew it, but Rosemary had a beautiful singing voice. She never sang loud because she was very shy and never felt comfortable singing. Many days I stood next to her while she sang her favorite Irish songs like, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", "Too-Ra_Loo-RaL00-Ral", "Danny Boy", "Harrigan" and our favorite song, "lovers". Her voice was absolutely beautiful and missed by me every day.
I was a ham operator for 25 years or longer. When I began to work on Russell's rental properties, I connected a 2 meter radio in my truck and also one in our kitchen for Rosemary. I would talk to Rose for a while while I was driving to the job and many times while I was driving home. Sometimes when I would be driving home I would hear the familiar call " KB9BRV this is KB9BZD over " and I would enjoy a nice conversation while driving home. It was a lot of fun for both of us. We kind of missed that after Russell moved and sold most of his rentals.
For seventeen years Rosemary and I drove to the lake with our old boat hitched to the truck. We went to the lake two days a week, sometimes three. It was a bouncy ride and Rose was always worried that we would have an accident. Some days we fished and other days we just were river rats. It is nice now that we have a slip and don't have to tow the boat. Rose loves it, so do I.
During the Christmas holidays Sears at Cicero and Irving Park decorated their store and store front. Their main 2nd story window displayed a huge Santa Clause with a beautiful red bag with gifts that seemed to be falling from it.. It was absolutely the most exciting store front I’ve ever seen in my life. Sears was one of the main stores that sold Christmas toys. The complete 2nd floor was toys. They had a train layout with three or four trains and a man kept them operating all day. It was one of the most exciting things to see at Christmas time.
.During Lent, We had the Stations of the Cross devotions on Sundays for the school children. The Stations were held Every Sunday during Lent, at Three O’clock in the afternoon followed by Benediction. The ceremony lasted about an hour. Most of us youngsters weren’t real receptive to this.
When I was in my 6th, 7th and 8, grade I built a lot of stick planes. They usually took a couple of weeks to build. They didn’t have a motor; only a thick rubber band that I would up tight then released the plane. They usually flew twenty or more feet. One of the last ones I built was huge. It probably had a four- foot wingspan. After I built it Hank and I took it on the roof and I wound the rubber band and released it. Unfortunately for me, I wound the rubber backward and the plane crashed.
This is a terribly bad story. It could have changed my life forever. Rosemary was pregnant with Kurt, when she began having problems. I took her to the hospital and she stayed for the evening. Two weeks later I came home from work early. Rose had called me and she was in tears. A collection agency was calling her every half hour and wanted payment for a past hospital bill. I was furious. I called the hospital and told them I was coming there and I was going to bring my gun. I will kill everyone in the office if you don’t tell that agency to quit calling. Then I’m going to their office and I’ll get everyone there.” I said. I put my shotgun in the car and drove to the hospital. I ran into the hospital where two or three hospital workers talked to me and calmed me. The calls stopped. They let me call home so I could ask Rosemary if they were telling the truth. This is a terrible memory I’ll never forget.
On the lighter side, Hank and I used to take the streetcar everywhere in the city. We usually didn’t have money to ride, but we had a system. We would look for a crowd getting on the vehicle, and with the confusion we would get on quickly, pretending to be with someone. It almost always worked.
I was at church with my Mom. Hank was being confirmed this Sunday. My Mom had her arm in a sling to relieve pain that she had. During the ceremony I noticed Mom had tears in her eyes and I leaned over and asked if the pain was bothering her, and she smiled and said no. I didn’t realize that she was experiencing her last child being confirmed. Her baby, Hank was no baby anymore.
I graduated from St. Pat’s High School, located near Austin Ave. and Belmont. The school was still under construction and the gym wasn’t finished. They still held the ceremony in the gym. It lasted about an hour, there were only about thirty students graduating that year. Mom and Hank were at the graduation. Afterwards we walked home and I changed clothes and Hank and I went fishing at the river.
Summer is always nice for everyone. Hank and I swam a lot. Sometimes at Riis Park near Fullerton Ave., we sometimes swam at Portage Park near Irving and Central, and sometimes we took the bus to Weiland Park near Austin and Milwaukee. As we got a little older, sixth grade, we swam a lot at Lake Michigan where we could dive off the rocks.
My second year of High school was spent at St. Rita’s High. It is located at 63rd St. and Western Ave. I rode the Addison St. bus to Western Ave., and took the Western Ave. streetcar to 63rd. St.. It usually took about an hour or more, each way. I didn’t care, because one of the subjects was auto mechanics.
At the age of sixteen I was dating Rosemary for the first time. I had a 1946 Buick Super at the time. I taught Rose how to drive during the summer. By winter she was a pro.
Monitor St.: When we first started Courtesy Floor Co. there were days when we would sit in the kitchen and while Rose would feed the kids, or clean something I would sit and play the guitar. I was just beginning to learn the guitar at that time, so it really wasn’t playing the guitar.
Our neighbor two door north of our house had a small part time job. They had an Italian beef stand two blocks east of our place that they operated Fri., Sat, and Sun. During the day their mother who lived with them, cooked the beef and sausage and gravy almost all day. We could smell it in our house. When evening came, we would search all out pockets and drawers trying to find enough money to buy an Italian beef or sausage.
During the years that Rose and I dated and even after we were first married we went to two big picnics in summer. One was the KC (Knights of Columbus) picnic that her family organized and ran and the other was the Keenan Picnic. The KC picnic was always at Gompers Park off Foster Ave. The Keenan picnic was held at 12th St. and Manheim Rd. All Rosemary’s aunts and uncles and friends attended both of these events. They were great days, with tons of food and plenty beer.
A few times when Grant was less than a year old, Rose, my Mom and I would go Perch fishing in the evening at Belmont Harbor during the hot evenings. We were able to park our car close to the water and while we were fishing we had a 20-foot rope tied to Grant’s pants, and the other end tied to my car bumper in order to keep him from jumping into the lake.
I worked for Bill Riley sanding floors at King Arthur apartments. He was going Bankrupt and he owed me a lot of money, unfortunately, he also owed the syndicate a lot more. A good friend of mine was the payout person in the office. I called him and tried to get a payout, but he told me he couldn’t. He instructed me to have Rosemary come to the office and he would try to give us a small check. We did as he told us. Rosemary entered the office and there were half dozen Italian women there. Rose entered their private office and my friend gave her a check. He told her when she left his office he wanted her to curse at him and tell him we were going to get a lawyer and sue, even call him foul names. He said, “If these ladies think I gave you money their husbands will come in here and tear me apart. “ Rose told me she got a real education sitting in the office listening to these tough women talk. We never did collect any more money.
The horse shows we attended years ago were fun. Except Kurt hated them. He considered them boring. Many days he talked Rose into taking him home and the two would leave. He and Rose would spend the day shopping and having lunch together.
Note: All items were cooked almost all day except for 7, 8, and 9.
As a child I had a newspaper route. I delivered the Northwest News for about fours. I started when I was in fifth grade and quit when I started High School.
While I was in first year high, I washed dishes in the school cafeteria. I also worked at John’s Poultry. It was a live poultry store on Fullerton Ave just east of Austin Ave. in Chicago. John was an old country Italian and his three daughters worked the counter. A son in law worked the back, where I worked. We killed and dressed chickens, turkeys, rabbits, geese and sometimes doves. Saturday night the shop had to be cleaned spotless before we left. Everyone pitched in to help with the cleaning. It is still there, however the owners aren’t the same.
Later that year I worked at a gas station for a few months pumping gas and doing grease jobs and oil changes.
I quit the gas station because Frank Lynch Buick hired me as a mechanic where I did minor tune-ups, brake jobs and all types of minor repairs.
During my second year of high I worked for my brother Bob during the summer months and holidays doing carpentry. We built garages then.
During my third year of high school I worked for two different remodeling carpenters during the summer months and Saturdays and holidays during the school year.
During my fourth year of school, and until I entered the army, I worked for Bob again. Now we were building small ranch houses and cape cod homes. We did all the carpentry. We roughed the homes, hung the drywall, trimmed the houses, shingled the roofs and sometimes set the steel beams.
When I was released from the army I worked for De Forest, repairing students projects. The projects were scopes, radios, amplifiers, VTVMs, millimeters, power supplies and once in a while a TV.
Less than a year later, I hired on to a carpenter contractor named Ralph Smith where I worked building bi-levels.
Later, I worked for Erickson-Matheson Stair Builders where I installed mill made oak stairs until I moved to Florida.
During my stay in Florida I worked for more than a dozen carpenter contractors, until I moved back to Chicago. Most of those jobs only lasted a few days. Only one job building a five story building lasted about five months before the lay-offs.
When I returned to Chicago, I worked with my brothers Richard and Hank for a few months. Then, Rose and I started Courtesy Floor Company. I sanded for 25 years and finally joined Digital Equipment Corp. where I worked for about ten years.
It is getting close to the Christmas holidays and I am remembering how I loved the last fifteen years Rose and I were together. The week before Christmas I would possibly buy a gift for Rose, but that isn’t the end. On Christmas Eve evening just before we would go to bed, I would give Rosemary a gift and every morning until Jan. 01 of the New Year. It was my way of telling Rosemary how much I appreciated everything she did for me through the years. It wasn’t much and I hope she understood how much I really loved her. I can walk into any room and see things I gave Rosemary at Christmas. She never gave away, sold or threw away anything I gave her. As a matter of fact, she kept every gift that anyone ever gave her. Just look around in every corner and crevice of this house and you'll see things , large or small, that you gave Mom throughout the years of her life. Many, many things she has treasured through time, were given to her as gifts from family and from me.
We mowed hay for a few years with the Massey Harris, and sometimes with the sickle-bar.
We had a hay rake
that we pulled behind the Chalmers and a bailer that was also pulled behind the Chalmers.
Many times we had
trouble with the tractor sickle-bar so I used the smaller Brigs sickle-bar. While I cut,Rosemary
would walk to
my side with a rake in hand, and pull the hay away from the blades. This was needed because
sometimes the blades
would clog. The day after the cutting was done, we would use the rake behind the Harris to
turn the hay.
Unfotunately, The rake was being repaired most of the time, so together we raked the field with
a hand rake. After
the hay was turned twice we would bale it. That process usually went pretty easy,
compared with cuting and
turning the field. The worst part was loading the hay in the barn.
We quit making hay for three or four years, and five years ago Rosemary and I decided to work the field again.It
took about 4 days. The weather was nice for making hay, but on the last day we realized we couldn't do this anymore.
After we loaded the hay in the barn, we both sat on the tailgate of our truck and just looked at each other.
I said, "Rose, our hay making days are over. We can't do it alone anymore, we are just too old for this."
We parked the rake by the pond and the baler at the top of the hill. I parked the truck next to the garage and we
both sat outside for the rest of the evening talking over a pot of coffee and a half-pack of cigeretts. We were
never tempted to make hay again.
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