Thursday, September 7, 2023
Whenever I think of my dear friend, Nancy, I think of the happy day when we met her and Frank at the home of Marie and Bob McKeown at a party at their house on Gordonhurst Avenue. It was the beginning of a friendship of more than 50 years . What a wonderful thing it was to meet all the people at that party. They all became wonderful friends. All the ladies just seemed to instantly to like one another, and all of our husbands were great fun guys.
Since we all attended St. Cassian’s Church, and our large families all attended St. Cassian’s School, we had many opportunities to get together, and getting together was something we did. Cook-outs, dances, parties and school events were always occasions for socializing. Nancy and Frank were a big part of every gathering, even though Nancy was so busy taking care of her large family, while Frank travelled the world for his business. Nancy and Frank never seemed to miss any social function. They were such a great addition to every event. Nancy was always there to help out with decorating for dances, making 2,000 paper stars to decorate for the annual St. Cassion’s fund raiser. Baking hundreds of cookies, for Christmas receptions, and always baking her famous “Irish Bread”, and always finding the time to tell me how to make a recipe to feed the five men in my family. And she did everything with a smile on her beautiful face.
We did a lot of crazy tings in those days.
The thing I remember most about Nancy was her commitment to whatever we were involved in at the time. For instance, we really got “into” the year l976, the Bi-Centennial , and we entered St. Cassian’s School into the July 4th parade. All the ladies joined into the preparations for the parade. We had a large contingent of boys and girls from St. Cassian’s who marched. The ladies on the committee managed to make costumes for about 120 boys and girls. That was a big job, but Nancy was a whizz with the sewing machine, and she spent many afternoons with me and my Mother making these costumes.
In the evenings before the parade, we spent hours at the school guy teaching the children how the march.
As I think about that now, I can see Nancy laughing as she marked around the gym. On July 4th, we were ready, and off we marched. We took great pride in the fact that we won lst place for our contingent in the parade.
Without Nancy’s enthusiasm, a gift which Nancy had in abundance, we never would have been able to pull it off. I think Nancy had the makings of a General. She kept all the kids under control.
Those were wonderful days, and everyone who ever met Nany loved her.
No one ever loved her and appreciated her more that Frank. It was always a pleasure to be in their company. They were a true role model for a Christian family. We were blessed to meet them all those years ago.
Mary and Jim Hamilton
