In honor of the holiday today, I’m writing only a brief note in remembrance of my Irish ancestors, my grandfather, my mother’s foster parents, and my mother. So here’s to Alice and Edward Kelly, who offered their hearts to my mother, Virginia Clancy, when her newly widowed father, William Clancy, was unable to raise his fourth child due to the 1925 death in childbirth of his beshert, Annette Pearlman.
Although they raised my mother during the Depression, the Kellys made sure that my mother had a puppy and a beautiful baby doll and carriage, and they taught her to read before she went to school. Edward Kelly died when my mother was only 10 years old, and Alice and William agreed it would be best for Virginia to stay on with Alice. My grandfather raised Raymond, Margaret, and Mary with his second wife, Jean Clancy. Mary, like her mother, died young. Following her marriage to my father, my mother included William and often my aunt and uncle in our family gatherings until he died in 1960. Alice died a few weeks before I was born. Virginia Clancy grew up taking on every educational opportunity she could grab, and she became a nurse. Alice had made sure Virginia knew how to read before she went to school, and Virginia paid this forward by teaching me to read early.
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| William Clancy |
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| Virginia Clancy Kelly |
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| Annette Pearlman |
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