Violet Elizabeth Ryan 1902-1957

Aunt Bud was Viola Elizabeth Ryan, a sister to our grandfather Paul Ryan Senior and a favorite aunt of our dad Paul Ryan Junior.  Her date of death was a mystery that I decided to apply my finer detective skills to.

In this picture you see CatherinePierce Ryan, Paul Junior, Violet Ryan ("Aunt Bud") and our uncle Peter Ryan.  I believe this was taken at Paul Junior's college graduation 1955.  So I knew she was alive at least until the spring of 1955.  For a long time, I've been trying to track down some more details about Aunt Bud's life especially when she died and where she was buried.  Our uncle Peter told us once that he remembered that she was living on Haskell Street with our grandparents Paul Senior and Catherine Ryan because she was ill.  He came home from school one day and found her dead.  No one could really remember when that was but I figured 1955-1958 as a range because Peter would probably have graduated by about 1958 when he was 18.  That narrowed it down but that's still a pretty big range to search.  Both our uncles Tim and Peter thought it might be 1956 or 1957 so I started to search day by day through the Gloucester newspapers for an obituary. 

Just before we left for a recent trip to Gloucester Massachusetts, I prepped myself to research Aunt Bud and Uncle Jack (John Ryan), who supposedly had died of an accidental gunshot wound.  Lo and behold some new digital references had become available so I learned that Aunt Bud died in 1957 and Uncle Jack in 1939 (the year of the accident). So I began searching the Gloucester Daily Times at the Sawyer Library day by day through "only" 1957 without much luck the first time.  But the second time, I tried the roll of microfilm that held copies of the paper from Oct-Dec 1957 figuring that range might be a good bet because school is in session most of that time since Peter remembered he had some home from school to find her.  (Nancy Drew has nothing on my detecting skills!). And this is what I found from early December:

Peter was right again!  He's got great information.  I was quite pleased to find her.  You'll notice it says she was buried in the family plot at Calvary.  The only family plot I was aware of at Calvary in Gloucester is this one for our grandparents Paul Senior, Catherine Pierce Ryan and Paul's mother Kathryn Bentley Ryan:

We noticed her arrangements were made by the Greely Funeral Home and I remember our mother saying this is the place always used by the Ryans.  My husband Jim suggested we go there and ask.  I was a little reluctant, but off we went and BOY was it worth the attempt!! A very nice lady was wonderful enough to go up into the attic to locate their books from 1957 and show us the page in their records for Aunt Bud's services:

Perhaps you'll notice that the drawing of the plot seems to indicate the burial of mother Katherine Bentley Ryan AND Arthur 1955 from Florida!  Arthur is another "lost" Ryan so this was huge.  I was tickled to think I'd found Aunt Bud and her brother Arthur so we went back to Calvary to see if we could find Sect 15 Range 15 Lot 13.  No luck. I called the Archdiocese of Boston and they said she was in Sect 17 Range 1 Lot 13.  Back to the cemetery.  Still no luck.  Apparently there is some confusion with Calvary cemetery records prior to 1960.  The Archdiocese "cannot confirm or deny" that Aunt Bud is buried there so we cannot have her name added to the stone--which was my intention at first.

We feel Aunt Bud and her brother Arthur are also buried in this plot.  We don't know why their names do not appear but I can speculate that it was just too expensive.  The monument people told us it would be $410 plus a $20 fee to the Archdiocese to add Aunt Bud to the stone.  That was more than I was expecting so I suppose in 1955 or 1957 if you pro-rate that amount, it would still be kind of expensive to add those names, even if the other siblings helped out.  And perhaps it should just stay that way.

35-62 9th

 

Your grandparents James Coffarelli and Marguerite Manzelli married in June of 1923 at St. Rita's (the scene of many family events infamous and joyful as well). Marguerite was the oldest of 9 children and James was the youngest. That pairing must have made for an interesting relationship. Just about nine months later, your uncle John Coffarelli was born in Freeport. And four years later your mother Regina was born.

This is a picture of Marguerite in front of the house on Sagamore Street. Uncle Johnny vividly remembers the large front sun porch which you can see a bit of behind Marguerite in this picture. Looks like a pretty good size house to me! Sometime between James' death in 1934 and Marguerite's in 1938 the family left Freeport apparently to live at 35-62 9th Street Long Island City. .

13 Sagamore Street was quite a ways from New York Hospital (now NY Presbyterian Hospital) in Manhattan where James was being treated for his leukemia. Uncle Johnny says he could see the hospital across the river--must have been from 9th Street

He recalls that the mortgage for this house was held by a furniture dealer who called the loan forcing them to move. Circumstances suggest that James' death probably forced this. I do not know the situation but at first I wanted to "boo-hiss" the furniture dealer but it is likely that Marguerite struggled financially after her husband's death at the height of the Great Depression. Yet another example of how history repeats itself and today's economic difficulties in many ways echo that time.

Uncle Johnny also recalled playing stickball in the neighborhood. He had no idea what kinds of things your mother was doing for entertainment while he was hitting a tennis ball with a mop handle. When I asked what were some of his favorite foods, he said he ate whatever was put in front of him. Days of the week dictated the menu--Sundays were chicken. I have noticed that the women in the family usually recall more specific details about such things but Uncle Johnny did not lack in detail describing stickball or other ball-bouncing games.

One interesting tidbit I'd like to follow up on was that he identified Aunt Betty (perhaps Elizabeth Coffarelli) in a picture as someone who lived with them and carried him out of a house fire! I imagine this had to be while they were living in Freeport but I hope to hear more of that story!

I've learned time and time again that these stories weave themselves in and out of time and it brings great comfort. As I was looking at my papers to get ready to put this post together, I re-read Marilyn Sheerin's letters and noticed that Aunt Claire and Aunt Marie's address was 35-62 9th Street Long Island City. More than 50 years later and the same address for the Manzellis. Probably someone told me that a long time ago, but it jumped right out at me today.

As Uncle Johnny was describing his sun porch on Sagamore Street, I was remembering Kathleen telling us that she has always wanted a house with a porch. Echoes of the past such as this add such richness to the story of your lives that it's difficult to let it go.