The stories I remember hearing from my mother and my Aunt about their childhood is that they were very poor and their parents worked hard to put food on the table. My grandfather worked in the mines.  My grandmother took in extra work to help with expenses.  She made sure that her family enjoyed a wonderful Christmas by working hard and sacrificing for her family.  She made a lot of their clothes and was an excellent cook.  All her children loved her so much.  My mother went to Catholic School and one day the nun kept my mother and another student after school and they missed their bus.  They had to walk home and didn't arrive home until 6:00 p.m.  My grandmother was worried sick because and then went to talk to the school about letting young girls walk home.  She finally transferred my mom to the public school.  During her early years she told me she was a tomboy and loved playing outdoors. 

After attending high school my mother would go away to Nursing School to fulfill her lifelong dream.

My mother, Catherine Mary Conahan was the first child of Dorothy and Daniel Conahan.  Dorothy was a teenager when she married Daniel, who was a coalminer in Coaldale, Pennsylvania.  My mother was born premature, was a home delivery and arrived three days before Christmas weighing only 2 pounds. I often heard stories from my grandmother that she was so tiny that she was able to fit inside a cigar box and her head was only the size of a lemon.  She was fed with a medicine dropper and placed near the oven to keep warm.  

It was a definitely a real miracle that she even survived.  She just didn't survive, she thrived.  

First time Grandma met Chris