Marie Meehan

That Old Irish Mother of Mine

Mom, who lost her own mother at an early age, was burdened with raising three younger brothers and a sister. Denied high school by an Irish-born father, who, despite the pleading of the nuns at St. Elizabeth's in Philadelphia, saw no need for girls to be educated. Which meant at age twelve, Mom went to work in a knitting mill. Ninety years have passed since she met and married Dad.

Together, they reared four children, one of whom was hard-of-hearing and required special care. Mom helped Anne overcome her handicap. She even assisted my sister with her college math. Mom's encouragement propelled Anne to earn full scholarships to Saint Mary's Academy and Chestnut Hill College, leading to a Master's Degree in Chemistry from Temple University.

In addition to carrying for her husband, her brood, and in later years her aged father, Mom was a fixture at her church's bingo.

For decades, she spent one day a week caring for a friend...in order that the friend's care-taker had some quiet time to herself.

We children were thrice blessed, for my father loved my mother, she loved him, and their four children loved them both.