Insert BlakelyPB62 Sammy portrait Insert Blakely PB63 Betty portrait Betty and Sammy are both shocked to be the “big” age they are, because they don’t feel old. Recently a friend from their years on Laurel Drive died. They still know her daughter and husband. It is troubling to think about their own mortality and they are conscious of the way things have changed during their lifetimes.
Although they couldn’t even have imagined it on their honeymoon, Betty and Sammy have enjoyed a lot of traveling. Shopping in their younger years was different compared to now. For instance, when Betty goes to buy something, even groceries, she puts the credit card in and pays for it. Back in the day, she says, “You had a shop and they knew you. So you were sent for a quarter pound of ham and six pounds of potatoes, and then it went into a little booklet. And at the end of the week you paid off what you could.” And that was how everybody else shopped as well. Because things are better for them financially, Betty still enjoys going in, getting whatever she wants, and paying for everything right away.
One thing that hasn’t changed is Sammy and Betty’s pride in and loyalty to the Irish people. Sammy’s grandfather emigrated to America, and Sammy still has family in Paterson, New Jersey. Recently Betty and Sammy attended an anniversary in Connemara, and were reminded that as a result of the Irish famine, thousands of people died and thousands got on board ships bound for America. The Blakelys proudly note that America has many Irish people and Irish-named landmarks, like O’Hare and Kennedy Airports. However, Sammy himself was named for two uncles, Samuel and Alexander, non-Irish names—which still rankles. Why not Barry or Patrick or O’Shaughnessy?
September 2, 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the second world war. Betty remembers that her dad wouldn’t ever speak about the war. Sammy’s father, too, was in both world wars, but would never talk about it. Many people were recognized in the country’s celebration, including Captain Sir Tom Moore, a nearly-hundred-year-old man who raised 39 million pounds for the NHS (National Health Service) by walking up and down his garden. Vera Lynn, who passed away at age 103 in June of 2020, was a great singer, who entertained and encouraged the troops with songs like, We’ll Meet Again. Insert 4.6 Sammy’s Dad between his neighbor Ferguson (l) and brother Barney (r)
Sammy’s father’s death in 1960 at the relatively young age of 62 was a shock to the family. He went to bed as usual on a Saturday night, but Sunday morning his mother said, “I can’t get your father wakened.” Teenagers, Sammy and the others didn’t really respond to that immediately. Several minutes later she said, “There’s something wrong!” and then they jumped on it. He died in his sleep overnight. Though she’s known Sammy for 60 years now, Betty, never got to meet her father-in-law. Sammy’s mother, Hannah, died in 1977.
Sammy’s sister Vera, who turned 85 on November 26, 2020, never had any children. Her husband Gerry died in 1994. When their sister Patricia (Patsy) McMenamin was nearing the end of her life, Vera stayed with and cared for her. Now Patsy’s son Michael checks in on Vera, the only sister of the family who is still alive. She lives a short distance from Betty and Sammy on her own in a lovely bungalow and gets regular visits from her brothers Sammy and Freddie. Insert BlakelyPB14
The photo of Betty with her sister Annette and her brothers George and Eddie shows them to be dirty and wearing their wellies. The picture was taken by someone from the neighborhood who was “rich” enough to have a camera. How grateful Betty is that they captured four muddy children in a photograph, though it’s hard to believe those little boys are now gone. Annette is still alive. Insert Blakely4.4 Betty, Georgie, Annette, Eddie
On a typical day, the children would have played outside. The lads would have taken some planks and wheels and made something to go up and down the street. Or they’d be pushing the pram, or building castles in the mud. Even the water pump outside the back door provided some measure of entertainment while children helped get the family’s water. They, of course, didn’t have phones or even games. There was no TV. The boys, says Sammy, were influenced a lot by the cinema. When they came back from watching a movie at the theater, their play consisted of pretending to be the characters they had seen. They’d emulate Roy Rogers or Gene Autry. Robin Hood movies inspired the boys to make bows and arrows and reenact the scenes. Movies with heroes who spent considerable time fencing with swords were popular with the boys as well.
Many children played with glass marbles—and they were so precious! They played games in the street with them where you might win a marble or could lose marbles. A simple game. Just so simple. The children who had a bike were very lucky indeed! “You created your own amusement,” says Sammy, “because there was nothing else.”
The River Foyle ran through the town and, of course, children would all go over to throw stones in the river. Betty remembers that during her childhood, three lads drowned in that river, which may have fostered her reluctance to go near the water. She doesn’t like water and is scared of it. One day every year, a bus went from their town to Donegal, a seaside place. If you had enough money and were lucky enough to be able to go on the bus, you got to have that one day at the seaside each year.
The children then were all out on the streets, playing rough, and there was no trouble. Betty and Sammy say they never see children playing outside these days. In fact, says Betty, if Social Services now saw the picture of her and her siblings all muddy, they’d have assumed the children were neglected, which they certainly were not. They see on Facebook pictures of children all dirty in the streets, with comments like, “I wish we were back there with our own children because we can’t get them out the door!”
Betty’s great-grandmother had 14 children. Families then were fed on pork, that they butchered themselves, and cabbage and potatoes that they grew. Imagine the difficulty feeding a family when there was no cabbage nor potatoes in the field during the famine. It was a very difficult time.
Before he got a job as a lorry driver, George, Betty’s Dad, was struggling because all his big family had gone to England, to Manchester and Birmingham, to the chocolate factories, but he was working for a contractor as a laborer. Then he took a test and he was able to drive a lorry, a great job, though the money wouldn’t have been fantastic. He was a brilliant man and very likable. All the grandchildren adored him, and Stephen, the eldest of Betty and Sammy’s four boys, is just like him. “Yes,” Betty said, “my father was a great man, and he loved his wee whiskey.” When they would bring him home, they parked near the kitchen window. He would thank them and tell them to “go on home now,” and they would see from the car that he went to the cupboard and sneaked his wee whiskey. They don’t know why he was sneaking it, but that was the way of it. Her Mammy also was amazing, like all those ladies with their big families. Betty wonders whether young people today could cope like they did. Insert 4.7 Betty’s parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary Insert Blakely4.5 Betty’s Dad, Barry, Betty’s Mom, Sammy, Betty and Karen, on the day of Barry’s confirmation at Betty’s parents’ house
Betty’s mom died at age 83. A small stroke had changed her personality, so that one minute she might be helping you and the next minute throwing a cup at you. Her Dad just lived on and on and on, then died one day very quickly. He was never sick, but was always on the go. Just before he died, at age 88, he wasn’t feeling well and her sister Claire had come from Australia, arriving on a Saturday night. On Sunday morning she could hear the phone ringing because his alarm button rang the phone. She quickly went down and found him barely conscious. It seemed their Dad had waited until Claire arrived to decide to go. By the time Betty got there, he was unconscious, but still alive. The paramedics found him unresponsive and staring into space. His death came quickly and they were glad he didn’t suffer. Insert Blakely4.8 Memorial Cards for Betty’s parents
Insert Blakely4.9 collage including grave of Betty’s parents
