The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe
IN MARCH 2020, Pat Gallagher had an idea. He asked his brother, Owen, what he thought of writing a book about the family of their father, James Gallagher, who grew up in the early decades of the 20th century in the West of Ireland in the small town of Ballinrobe, County Mayo. The shutdown from COVID-19 was just beginning, and the thinking was they would have more time on their hands than usual. What better way to spend quarantine than exploring the stories of our aunts, uncles and other relatives. The task turned out to be much more complicated (and rewarding) than anticipated. It involved sifting through ship manifests, census, birth and marriage records, newspaper archives, and, most enjoyable, sessions delving into the memories of extended-family members. Sorely missed was the chance to hear first-hand the tales from our deceased cousins John O'Brien and Pete Gallagher. This book's stories and more than 500 images are the result of the past year's journey. The goal was both simple and ambitious: making the memories of the Gallaghers of Ballinrobe ours forever.
IN MARCH 2020, Pat Gallagher had an idea. He asked his brother, Owen, what he thought of writing a book about the family of their father, James Gallagher, who grew up in the early decades of the 20th century in the West of Ireland in the small town of Ballinrobe, County Mayo. The shutdown from COVID-19 was just beginning, and the thinking was they would have more time on their hands than usual. What better way to spend quarantine than exploring the stories of our aunts, uncles and other relatives.
The task turned out to be much more complicated (and rewarding) than anticipated. It involved sifting through ship manifests, census, birth and marriage records, newspaper archives, and, most enjoyable, sessions delving into the memories of extended-family members. Sorely missed was the chance to hear first-hand the tales from our deceased cousins John O'Brien and Pete Gallagher. This book's stories and more than 500 images are the result of the past year's journey. The goal was both simple and ambitious: making the memories of the Gallaghers of Ballinrobe ours forever.
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Aunt Catherine, front row left, with her graduating class from
nursing school at St. Francis Hospital on Sept. 1, 1942.
A young Aunt Catherine relaxes with an unidentified friend.
Aunt Catherine spent time at the beach in Wildwood with friends
she knew from working at St. Francis Hospital in the 1940s. At
right she is with Dr. Bob Boyd and Denis O'Flynn, who may also
have been a doctor.
When living on Hancock Street in
Wilmington, Aunt Catherine attended St. Ann’s
school and church and made her First
Communion. After returning to Hockessin, she
went to St. John the Evangelist Elementary
School, which Monsignor Grant started in the
basement of the church on Valley Road. Father
insisted the students be taught by the Ursuline
nuns. There were only nine children in Aunt
Catherine’s graduating class, five boys and four
girls. Aunt Elva’s sister Dot Barto went to
school with Aunt Catherine. They were in the
graduating class in 1934, the same year the
school closed.
Aunt Catherine attended Ursuline
Academy for one year, 1934-35. When Conrad
opened in 1935, for seventh through twelfth
grade, she and most of Hockessin’s youths went
there. She went with her sister, Ann, who was a
grade behind. Their brother Franny would soon
follow. Dot Barto and her brother Roy also
attended. Aunt Catherine, who graduated in
1938, and her sister were members of the Oreads
Club, while Catherine also joined the
Commercial Club. Her yearbook said: “Katie
doesn’t like coca-colas and homework,
especially over the weekend. She also seems to
look forward to lunch period and bookkeeping
class. The piano furnishes an outlet for her
emotions. Katie professes a dislike for baseball
and expresses a wish that some people would
learn not to take such a long time to say so
little.” She let one person sign her yearbook, her
cousin Joe Halloran (Class of 1939).
During her high school years, Aunt
Catherine was also a member of the St. John's
Girls Athletic Association in Hockessin. In
addition to Catherine and her sister, the group
included Letty Gormley, Kathleen and Jeanne
McGovern, and Grace and Eleanor Touhey.
They would put on plays, hold fund-raisers and
sing at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. A
brief story in the Wilmington Morning News
from July 1938 noted the group was having a
house party in Rehoboth, chaperoned by Miss
Cecilia Touhey.
After high school, Aunt Catherine
entered St. Francis School of Nursing. She
graduated Sept. 1, 1942, second in her class and
third in the state. She worked in the Emergency
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