The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

for the four garage-door windows repeatedly shattered by
street-hockey balls; and a removable picket on a wroughtiron
fence to provide access from the backyard to the
cemetery behind the home to retrieve so many basketballs.
The last was in response to a friend of Pat and Owen's who
impaled his hand on the spiked top of one such picket while
climbing over the 6-foot fence.
ENTER CATHY HOOPES
Aunt Catherine worked in the Emergency Room at St.
Francis Hospital as a young nurse in the 1940s and '50s.
encountered a “back slapper.” The guy liked to go around
and smack people hard on the back and say, “How ya
doin’?” Uncle Jim didn’t much care for it and several times
asked the man to stop. But he didn’t. The back-slapping
went on for about a week, until Uncle Jim finally decided
he’d had enough. The next time the guy slapped him, Uncle
Jim kicked him in the “rear end” as hard as he could and
sent the man flying across the room. The guy never slapped
Uncle Jim’s back again.
Along with taking several secondary jobs in the
evenings, Uncle Jim worked at the Experimental Station
until he retired, perfecting many skills along the way, from
plumbing and electrical work to pipe-fitting and masonry.
At home he would fix anything that went wrong. He also
had a talent for engineering his way around many problems
created by his growing children. They included: attaching
protective metal guards around often-broken light bulbs in
the basement; a chicken-wire net to protect a neighbor's
flower bed from errant basketballs; Plexiglass replacements
It so happens that Pat Hannon was married to
Delia Tierney, the sister of Uncle Pete’s wife, Aunt May. In
the mid-1950s, Pat Hannon worked at St. Francis Hospital,
where Cathy Hoopes was the head nurse in the Emergency
Room. Fancying himself somewhat of a matchmaker, Mr.
Hannon saw the opportunity one March 17 to bring
together Miss Hoopes and Jim Gallagher, whom he knew
through Aunt May. He had informed Uncle Jim of his plan
in advance of a St. Patrick’s Day gathering, and once there
he danced Aunt Catherine over to meet her future husband.
As their relationship blossomed, it came time for
Uncle Jim to have Miss Hoopes meet his family. Aunt Delia
was the family matriarch, so Uncle Jim made arrangements
to bring his girlfriend to his sister’s house, where the
family, who did not yet know the woman’s name, waited
that Sunday with great anticipation. Aunt Delia’s daughter
Patsy had some trouble getting off work at the St. Francis
Hospital Emergency Room for the big event because,
predictably, the beloved head nurse there had already taken
the day off – for reasons unknown to Patsy. Patsy
eventually did find another nurse to take her place and was
home when the big surprise happened. Now, Patsy’s father
knew Cathy Hoopes as well. He had worked at the Krueger
Brewery, which was located behind St. Francis, and would
often bring injured employees of the brewery to the ER.
Uncle Mike was just as much in the dark as his daughter
about the girl Uncle Jim was bringing to meet the family.
When Uncle Jim and his friend finally arrived at the
O’Briens’ and the door was opened, Aunt Delia was startled
by her husband's and daughter's excited shouts of “Cathy!”
before Miss Hoopes was even introduced.
YOUNG AUNT CATHERINE
Aunt Catherine was born Nov. 26, 1920, to
Margaret (May) and Bayard Hoopes in Yorklyn, Del. The
family moved around, going to Deepwater, N.J., and
Wilmington before settling in Hockessin by 1930. She had
a younger sister, Ann, and two younger brothers, Francis
and George.
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