My grandparents went on to have three more children.  Eleven months later, her brother Robert (Bob) was born and two years later, her sister Dorothy, who was called later Deedee.  My mother and her siblings attended Catholic School and then later when to the public school.  She told me she was a Tom boy and enjoyed outdoor activities. When she was ten years old her brother Daniel was born.  She was really excited about being a big sister and helping her mother take care of him.  

Religion, family gatherings, learning how to knit and sew were some of the highlights of her younger years.

 
  

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.