Hanna McCarty, A Hero

My dear Reader,  Yes, I am soon to end this exercise.  You and I have traveled a long road together and got to know Minnie, Ed, and their 6 little girls, a devoted spinster sister, Hanna McCarty,  stunned by the birth of Edward, met Bridget Fitzgerald Kintz in Las Vegas, NM, experienced a joyful family reunion, and the coming together of what was a promising family life in 1910.  Only, the ending is sad. Minnie dying from a side effect of the medication she was taking to make her well.

The little girls grew up reading their Mamma’s letters.  Her instructions for them to have fresh air, learn to play the piano, and seeking a higher education for those who wanted it (Agnes Lucile graduated from St. Mary’s of Notre Dame in 1931) did happen.  These letters became their Mamma and each one used her instructions along the way and often would say, “Mamma said…………”

For me, I dedicate all my research and time, to my favorite hero, Hanna McCarty.

Hanna at age 25,  was so courages to venture into a territory not yet a state, with her dedication of service for her invalid sister, Minnie. Her will to endure the hardships of waiting on Minnie for 6 months, assisting in the birth of Edward, running the baby down the street in the middle of the night for feedings, the mounds of laundry done after boiling water on a coal stove on very New Mexico hot days, then, the boiling of water for both her and Minnie’s baths, finding rentals, looking for furniture, fumigating the new house and furniture, and the list is endless.  And, today, one thing we all take for granted is indoor plumbing.  It wasn’t the case in 1910…….certainly not in Charleston or Las Vegas.  This unpleasant task was left to Hanna to dispose of daily.  It is comical to in vision Hanna, running to town with a tin bucket, for ice cream, on warm summer nights.  Even ordering out of dinners for 25 cents each was out of the ordinary when “take outs” wasn’t done back in 1910.

My Grandfather, Edward P. Whalen, played a huge hero part too.  Impossible to think he didn’t.  He sold his interest in a business to send his wife to Las Vegas, New Mexico, became “Mr. Mamma”, was left to figure out how to ween Agnes Lucile from diapers to panties, wiped tears, keep house, cook, baths, ironing of 6 little girls dresses and the endless list of housewife chores in which no man in Charleston had to deal with before.  Truly, a remarkable man, then, during, and after Minnie passed.

One very special person whom I am most grateful for his time and encouragements after reading “My dear Ed,” before I decided to post, Richard (Dick) Stolley.  Dick is a Pekinite (Pekin, Illinois) like myself.  He and his twin have had remarkable careers in journalism .  As Dick became Editor of Life magazine, his twin was Editor of Post magazine.  Plus, did you know the first editor of People’s magazine was Dick?  He is still with Time, Inc. today.  I needed Dick to move this incredible love story off their pages and into your hearts.  Thank you, Dick.

Like I said in my Introduction in August 2009, I knew all the players, except one.  Yes, I never knew my grandmother.

Unless, like you, it was from reading her letters.

Christmas 1917

Helen, Mary, Edna, Catherine & Margaret, Agnes Lucile, Edward

My dear Reader, I leave you in hopes you understand how important a family can grow together

be together

and

wait

for each other.

Granddaughter Denise Conaghan Snakard

717 Willow Road / Winnetka, Illinois  60093