Evelyn Ryan and Charles McCafferty

Wedding of Charles McCafferty and Evelyn Ryan

I am fortunate, at my age, to still have two siblings of my mother who are still with us -- Evelyn and Jim.  Family historians know how fortunate they are to be be able to have a "fact checker" who can help ascertain whether or not a story is fact or fiction.  My Aunt Evelyn does that for me.

As mentioned in earlier posts, my mother and her two sisters all got married between January and June of 1948.  They were part of the group of post World War II brides and veteran husbands who were responsible for the "Baby Boom."  I am part of that generation.

My brother located a picture album filled with 8 x 10 pictures of the wedding of all three girls.  Some were completely new to me.  I've decided to put some of them into collages and make them part of the family history record recorded in this blog. Evelyn and Charlie will celebrate their 64th Wedding Anniversary in April. They are the parents of four children, 21 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Bridesmaids were Florence Ryan, Virginia Ryan Jones, and Clara McCafferty
The men pictured include Roy Ryan (father of the bride), Jim Ryan and John McCafferty

The Wedding Party

In this collage, the picture on the top left includes Marie Metz (aunt), Beatrice McCafferty, Charles McCafferty, Evelyn Ryan McCafferty, Virginia Ryan, Roy Ryan and August Vonderheide.  The wedding party included John McCafferty, Jim Ryan, Jim McCafferty, Charles McCafferty, Evelyn Ryan McCaffery, Virginia Ryan Jones, Clara McCafferty and Florence Ryan.

Note: If you happen to like photo collages, check out additional ones on a wide variety of topics at Little Red House.  Mary Carroll offers bloggers an opportunity to share their latest collages with others as part of Mosaic Monday.

Music of Our Parents - Que Sera, Sera

My mother liked to sing. As mentioned in an earlier post, I always assumed that the songs my parents sang were "old" songs -- not contemporary ones. My mother often sang Doris Day's song, Que Sera, Sera. There was a story that went along with this song. Doris Day, although not in my mother's class, went to the same high school as my mother and her sisters. The high school was Our Lady of the Angels, or O.L.A. located in St. Bernard. It was an all girls' school that in the present day has been combined with the boys' school, Roger Bacon.

Virginia, Evelyn and Florence at O.L.A.

My mother and her sisters all played in the O.L.A. band. Mom played the clarinet, Evelyn played trumpet, and Florence played the sax for a while.  Aunt Evelyn said they convinced Florence to switch to bells, because they needed another petite girl on the bells to match the other bell player.

I learned a lot about the song. According to Songfacts:

"This became Doris Day's biggest hit and her signature song, but she didn't want to record it because she thought of it as a children's song. Livingston explained in Zollo's interview: "She didn't want to record it but the studio pressured her. She did it in one take and said, 'That's the last you're going to hear of this song.'"

In fact, the song went on to win the 1956 Oscar for Best Song.  It also became the theme song for her sitcom The Doris Day Show, which ran from 1968-73.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be
Will I be pretty, will I be rich
Here's what she said to me.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

When I was young, I fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows, day after day
Here's what my sweetheart said.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

Now I have children of my own
They ask their mother, what will I be
Will I be handsome, will I be rich
I tell them tenderly.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

I like the sentiment of this song because it reminds me (a Control Freak) that you can't control everything about your life.  To some extent, what will be, will be. You can download it for $0.99 at Amazon at this link:  Que Sera, Sera 

Later I hope to add a photoshow link so you can hear the whole song and take a flight back to the 50's.

Note:  Doris Day was born Doris Kappelhoff.  She was the granddaughter of four German immigrants.  She grew up in Evanston (Cincinnati, Ohio).  There is some discrepancy about the year of her birth.  Based on the Census, she would have been born in 1923.  My mother, born in 1922, was in the O.L.A. class of 1940.  Aunt Evelyn was in the class of 1942.  According to an interview with Doris Day's son, her mother dropped out of O.L.A. at the age of 16 to pursue her career. 

Virginia Vonderheide Ryan - II

Raising Children

Virginia Ryan loved being a mother.  She had four children in very short order:  Virginia, Evelyn, Florence and Jim.  All four children were born in five years.  As children, Grandma had a desk in a little alcove off of the living room (I have it now), and this family portrait was on it.

Pictured from left to right:  
Florence, Virginia, Jim, Evelyn, Roy and Virginia

Virginia was protective of her family.  Aunt Evelyn told me that when they were growing up, St. James School was located just on the other side of the fence in their backyard.  Grandpa had installed a gate making it easy to get to school.  When Jim was in the 8th Grade, the school relocated to a new facility on Springfield Pike.  "Poor" Jim had to walk to Springfield Pike for school as he was in the first 8th Grade Class to graduate from the new school.  Grandma did not like this one bit.

 You can bet that Grandma sewed all of the girl's dresses and probably made their hats.

 



I recently called Uncle Jim because I realized that he "came of age" during World War II and I knew he had been in the Navy. He told me that he was going to be drafted when he turned 18 in July 1945. Not wanting to be in the Army, he made the decision to enlist in the Navy in June. He attended basic training and then was scheduled to go to Hawaii following a week's leave at home. Meanwhile, the war ended and his orders were changed. I will tell his story in another post.

Jim never saw a day of combat, but that does not mean he was exempt from the "horror" of war. He was assigned to the "cleanup" crew assigned to the Pacific. Need I say more. His mother was understandably very distressed at the thought of her only son going off to war. They lucked out.

Note the picture on the desk!

As I type this, I realize that today is the 16th Anniversary of my mother's death.  I dedicate the page to her memory and the sense of family that she instilled in me.

Virginia Vonderheide Ryan - I

Virginia Vonderheide Ryan - The Early Years

I love this picture!  Once again Roy's gaze upon his bride is priceless! Roy was of German/Irish descent, but Virginia was of German descent.  For the second time in two generations there was a German/Irish union in our family.

In those days, it was common for the bride and groom to pose for a formal portrait.  I love Grandma and Grandpa's picture.  The witnesses to the wedding were the brother of the bride, Val, and the sister of the groom, Florence.

Before Virginia was married, she worked as a "milliner."  A milliner is someone who makes hats. Given this history, I assume that Grandma made the two hats in this picture.  How beautiful!  Her ability to sew and create is something that somehow did not find its way to me, despite having women who loved to sew from both sides of my family.

As mentioned earlier, the "Ryans" purchased what would become the family home when Aunt Evelyn was three years old.  Pictured below is a proud woman behind the wheel of the family car.  The second picture has Florence, Virginia and Evelyn on the running board.  I remember Grandma saying that when she started driving you did not have to have a driver's license.  I love the confidence she seems to display in these pictures.  I've always said that I am descended from a line of strong women.

I don't have a lot of pictures of Grandma in her younger years, but here is another one of my favorites.  Virginia is the one on the left.  Aunt Evelyn is fairly certain that the woman pictured on the right is Roy's sister, Florence.

The pictures seem to be representative of a beautiful family.  But one thing was missing -- she had yet to have a son.  It wouldn't be long before James August Ryan was born, making the family complete. I'm assuming that Jim was named after both of his grandfathers -- James Hugh Ryan and August Henry Vonderheide.