Anna Kathleen Gibbons Egan (1907-2008)
Sep. 15th, 2008 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcMy Nanny died this morning. She lived an amazing life, but I am gutted. Off to NYC tomorrow afternoon; back home Sunday morning.
Anna Kathleen Gibbons was born outside Portumna Co. Galway on 17 June 1907. She died in Mountaintop Pennsylvania on 15 September 2008.
While the archetype of rural Irish farm life tends to be the tenant farmer, the Gibbons were not: they owned their own and employed many to make their business a success. Kathleen was the cleverest girl in a family of clever people, and her Da put great stock in her intellgence. He also fairly despaired at time because of her spiritedness. Never a party girl, she nonetheless enjoyed herself and life.
Most Galway girls had little formal schooling; Kathleen was the top of her class and became a teacher. Outside the Connemara and Aran Islands, few had any Irish; Kathleen set out to master her ancestral tongue and became fluent. Most Galway girls married in their teens; Kathleen married when she was nearly 25, a man of her choosing.
In her early 20s she arrived on the doorstep of her big sister and best friend Eileen. Unable to teach because her credential from Ireland wasn't recognized, she set out to working. She ensconced herself in the ex-pat New York community. She had a grand time, and would settle for nothing. So when she met Patrick Egan, she could follow her heart and head. In short order came Ethna, then Padraic (my Da), Una, Eileen, Kevin and Berna. A few years on and Desi arrived. Qute a few more and Brenda surprised everyone. Having 8 children wasn't usual, except most women with such large families started perhaps 10 years before Kathleen did.
The Egans kept their heads above water on Albany Crescent in the Bronx. They did what they had to feed their children's hearts, minds and souls: Catholic schools, daily devotions, strict discipline. And lots of love. Their 8 children would bring Kathleen and Paddy 18 grandchildren, who themselves had 32 great-grandkids. And one great-great. Most importantly, they gave us family.
I often try to explain my childhood by describing a summer (rooming) house with 20 apartments, about 75 residents--mostly relatives--and only one shower. But really the amazing thing about 154 Beach 114th Street was that Nanny built it with her heart and hard work. Most of my generation lived most of our summers down the hall from our grandmother. She was there for a hug, a laugh, a raw potato, a scolding, or a smile--or all those things. We saw and talked to and touched her every day, pretty much whenever we wished to. She knew us from out the womb; she knew us warts and all. And she, more than anyone, gave us a sense of who we are.
When that house became too much work for Nanny, she sold it to her kids. But she lived only 10 blocks away. so even when she no longer lived with us she was still with us. And she lived in the 124th Street house untilt a mere 3 months ago, when her surviving 4 children could no longer keep her in that house. She split her weeks between Ma and Da's place and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Nancy's.
Ethna, Una, Desi, Brenda and Pop went to heaven before her, as did her granddaughter Katherine, as did all her siblings. I'm sure she's with them all today. I'm sure Brenda's happiest of them all.
I cannot begrudge the universe here, but I'm so sad she's gone. When I was born Ma was deatlhy ill and I went home to Nanny for a few days. She's always said I'm her 4th son and 9th child. The love of grandparents and grandchildren can be special because there's no burden of responsibility, only love. Though no one who knew Nanny would ever dare argue she didn't consider herself responsible for each and every one of us. In fact, she taught us that we were responsible for each and everyone of us. And lucky to have each other.
neart na mban; saoirse rogha
I'm so glad we whooped it up but good for her birthday last year. Here are some photos.
Anna Kathleen Gibbons was born outside Portumna Co. Galway on 17 June 1907. She died in Mountaintop Pennsylvania on 15 September 2008.
While the archetype of rural Irish farm life tends to be the tenant farmer, the Gibbons were not: they owned their own and employed many to make their business a success. Kathleen was the cleverest girl in a family of clever people, and her Da put great stock in her intellgence. He also fairly despaired at time because of her spiritedness. Never a party girl, she nonetheless enjoyed herself and life.
Most Galway girls had little formal schooling; Kathleen was the top of her class and became a teacher. Outside the Connemara and Aran Islands, few had any Irish; Kathleen set out to master her ancestral tongue and became fluent. Most Galway girls married in their teens; Kathleen married when she was nearly 25, a man of her choosing.
In her early 20s she arrived on the doorstep of her big sister and best friend Eileen. Unable to teach because her credential from Ireland wasn't recognized, she set out to working. She ensconced herself in the ex-pat New York community. She had a grand time, and would settle for nothing. So when she met Patrick Egan, she could follow her heart and head. In short order came Ethna, then Padraic (my Da), Una, Eileen, Kevin and Berna. A few years on and Desi arrived. Qute a few more and Brenda surprised everyone. Having 8 children wasn't usual, except most women with such large families started perhaps 10 years before Kathleen did.
The Egans kept their heads above water on Albany Crescent in the Bronx. They did what they had to feed their children's hearts, minds and souls: Catholic schools, daily devotions, strict discipline. And lots of love. Their 8 children would bring Kathleen and Paddy 18 grandchildren, who themselves had 32 great-grandkids. And one great-great. Most importantly, they gave us family.
I often try to explain my childhood by describing a summer (rooming) house with 20 apartments, about 75 residents--mostly relatives--and only one shower. But really the amazing thing about 154 Beach 114th Street was that Nanny built it with her heart and hard work. Most of my generation lived most of our summers down the hall from our grandmother. She was there for a hug, a laugh, a raw potato, a scolding, or a smile--or all those things. We saw and talked to and touched her every day, pretty much whenever we wished to. She knew us from out the womb; she knew us warts and all. And she, more than anyone, gave us a sense of who we are.
When that house became too much work for Nanny, she sold it to her kids. But she lived only 10 blocks away. so even when she no longer lived with us she was still with us. And she lived in the 124th Street house untilt a mere 3 months ago, when her surviving 4 children could no longer keep her in that house. She split her weeks between Ma and Da's place and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Nancy's.
Ethna, Una, Desi, Brenda and Pop went to heaven before her, as did her granddaughter Katherine, as did all her siblings. I'm sure she's with them all today. I'm sure Brenda's happiest of them all.
I cannot begrudge the universe here, but I'm so sad she's gone. When I was born Ma was deatlhy ill and I went home to Nanny for a few days. She's always said I'm her 4th son and 9th child. The love of grandparents and grandchildren can be special because there's no burden of responsibility, only love. Though no one who knew Nanny would ever dare argue she didn't consider herself responsible for each and every one of us. In fact, she taught us that we were responsible for each and everyone of us. And lucky to have each other.
neart na mban; saoirse rogha
I'm so glad we whooped it up but good for her birthday last year. Here are some photos.
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Date: 2008-09-17 03:48 am (UTC)