The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

Aunt Delia is surrounded by cousins at Uncle Pete's home in 1951 for Mary
Theresa's First Communion. They are Mary, with her Toni doll; Pete, at
top; Patsy, next to her mother; Mary Kathryn; and John, petting Lassie.
It was never a fuss about when everybody was living with
us. I never remember any angst or any ‘Aunt Ann’s coming
tomorrow’ or ‘Uncle Jim’s coming.’ … It was just we all
assimilated things in the natural order. That’s my
impression as a child. It was the right and proper thing to
do. … It was just very ordinary.”
Another ordinary thing for the family was the
intimacy of the neighborhood. It was a time when your
milk and cream would be delivered to a box on the
doorstep. A “huckster” would come down the street from
time to time selling fresh produce from his aging truck.
(The call of “STRAAAAW-bereezz” is still vivid.) The
neighborhood even had a man who would occasionally
come around with a pony, offering to take and then sell
photos of neighborhood children to their parents. There is a
picture of a very young Patsy O’Brien sitting happily in the
saddle.
Patsy also remembers that a trip from Wilmington
to New Jersey when she was young had to be done by ferry,
which left the Delaware side of the river from New Castle.
Sandwiches were available for the travelers at a concession
stand. But Aunt Delia would not let her children buy them,
because “you never knew who made them,” she would
caution. Sometime later, Patsy remembers talking about the
sandwiches with a life-long friend from New Castle, Betsy
Klingmeyer. Betsy informed Patsy how her mother would
72