By the time she was 9 yrs. old,she had to stay home to care for her loving mother who had become an invalid. In those days the term " Parkinsons Desease " was not known. The way Mom discribed her mothers condition ( shaking so bad she couldn't sleep, walk or feed herself. ) Mom would bend her mothers knees and lay down next to her, putting her mothers knees between Mom's Knees, and holding her hands tight to keep her mother from shaking. This was the only way her mother could fall asleep. The family took her to many doctors..and religious healers, but nothing helped.
By the time my Mom was 14, the family decided to sell the house and move my Mom and grandmom in with the older married siblings. For 7 yrs. they were shuffled back and forth between two of my mother's older sisters. ( Catherine and Barbara ) Mom's father had moved in with daughter Barbara.
When Mom was 21 her father passed away, and 1 year later on Feb. 19th, 1936 , she married my father Bernard who was 19 at the time. They rented a 1 bedroom apartment near both of her sister's, so she could be close enough to help take care of her mother.
The following year on April 7th 1937 her first child was born. ( Junior )... 13 months later on May 12th 1938, she gave birth to her second child ( Jimmy )..During this time she was still helping to care for her mother.
When her baby Jimmy was 17 1/2 months old he got pneumonia, and passed away on Dec.31st 1939...during that time Mom was 4 1/2 mos. pregnant with her 3rd child ( Carleen ) who was born on May 20th 1940... By this time my father was only supporting his family part of the time.. One year after Carleen was born, Mom's mother passed away.( on Juniors birthday April 7, 1941)....Needless to say, by that time the marriage was disintegrating. The problem was....she didn't approve of bar rooms and alcohol, and babysitters were for emergencies only. If she couldn't take her children, she stayed home with them !!( My father was the opposit of her. ) She married a man who enjoyed drinking and running in bars, with other women. Time after time she forgave him !! and during WWII..Mom went before a judge and had him drafted into the army, because he wasn't supporting his family. After his Basic Training, he came back home on leave, before shipping out to Europe. Mom tried to make things work again, thinking he would change his ways. Everything was fine when he left for England on Sept. 16th 1944. From England he went to Germany. While he was there, Mom wrote and told him she was pregnant. He was wounded in action on Feb.6th 1945 and recieved the Purple Heart. Their last baby Bernadette ( me ) was born Apr. 23rd 1945, while he was in Metz France, After the war was over he returned to the U.S. on Dec. 20th 1945.. And was mustered out of the army on Jan. 5th 1946.