An Irish-Catholic Tale, Part IV

California is a beautiful place to live. Where else can vacationers be hours away from both beach and mountains? Back in the 30's the drive to the mountains may have taken longer than an hour, but that didn't stop a couple of pals and a woman in love from visiting them.

Chet and Rosie were a pretty hot item, thanks to the introduction from big brother, Matt. It wasn't long before they went everywhere together.


It also wasn't long before Chet popped the question, and in 1931, he and Rosie were engaged.

Himself looks at the above photo in awe. He can't believe the smile on his grandmother's face. It's a smile he says he never really knew. What happened to it? It's also so remarkable to him how he can stare at this photo of his grandfather and see the faces of his male cousins.



Chet and Rosie were married in December, 1931. Rosie looked as beautiful as a bride should on her wedding day!
Chet was a great fella and they had so much fun together. What an exciting time for both of them. They bought a home in Hawthorne, California, in 1931, a 2 bedroom bungalow with a detached garage.


Unfortunately, there was a cloud hanging over their newly-wedded bliss.


Mary Agnes and Helen adored Chet and wanted only the best for him. They kept a watchful eye on the newlyweds and began to notice something --


Rosie wasn't having children.


This upset the very Irish-Catholic Mary Agnes. In fact, it upset her so much that she decided she needed to remind her daughter-in-law of her wifely duties. After a son was born and many childless years followed, Mary Agnes took pen to paper.

I don't really know the contents of the entire letter, but you can bet Rosie remembered every word. It basically accused her of not being a good Catholic wife because she wasn't doing her duty to her husband by bearing him children. Mary Agnes let it be known to Rosie that this was not to be tolerated. She ended her letter with a stern warning,

"God will not be mocked!"

When I met Rosie after I married Himself, she was already in the last decade of her life. As the years progressed, she began to lose more and more of her memory to Alzheimer's, even to where she eventually no longer recognized her own children. Uncle Terry noted, however, that if anyone mentioned the name of Mary Agnes or Helen, his mother would sit right up, point a finger to the sky and declare, "God will not be mocked!"


Rosie did the only thing she could possibly do. She began to have children.
Here, Chet is pictured with their second-born child, Uncle Terry. Who knew Grandpa R. had some guns, huh?

Rosie began to have lots and lots of children. Not surprisingly, this also didn't make Mary Agnes happy. Her next communication voiced her displeasure at so many children when she stated, "What are you, a rabbit?"
But Rosie kept a smile on her face regardless. That's more than could be said for Mary Agnes. Aunt Mary Ann notes how far apart CT and Mary Agnes are standing in this picture with the understated, "They didn't get along very well."

I love Uncle Terry's face in the photo above. So typical of that age. Aunt Mary Ann is on her father's lap. Uncle John is the boy I would love to hang out with! I want to shoot hoops with him and play cards and get into trouble. The infant on her mother's lap is my own mother-in-love, Kathleen. This photo was taken on the day of her infant baptism.

Rosie's smile . . . I wonder if her in-laws lived nearby, or did she have to host them when they came for the baptism? I wonder if Mary Agnes helped her with the children? I wonder if she scooped them onto her lap and played pat-a-cake?

The smile never wavered in the photos, but there was a cloud larger than Mary Agnes hanging over her happy home.
This photo is the only photo of Chet, Rosie, and all of their children. This time, the infant is Aunt Rita, whom we just said good-bye to this year. The little girl sitting on her Daddy's lap is my own daughter, Kelly! (Ok, it's my mother-in-love again, but WOW does it look like Kelly!) Soon, very soon, their lives would change forever, and Rosie's smile would become something her grandson didn't really know.


This last photo is my mother-in-love, Kathleen, on her wedding day.
The man escorting her down the aisle is not Chet.

*Please note: All information was taken from conversations over the years. Information was also taken from emails and background biographies from Aunt Mary Ann. Any errors are mine alone! :-)