1947: The O’Malleys

Uncle Tom sent this photo on and I haven’t been able to stop looking at it for two days. We all are emailing each other about it. “Terry’s wearing glasses! What dog is that? Look at Pop! How old is Mummy Gina here?” And so on. Mummy Gina and Pop were my grandparents (my father’s parents). Here there are in 1947 with their five boys. Two more children were to come in the future, a girl and a boy (now my uncle Tom and my aunt Regina).

My dapper grandfather is holding my uncle Joe on his lap. Joe was a glamorous-looking baby and an even more glamorous good-looking young man. He died of leukemia when he was 29 years old. I have very few memories of my grandfather (Pop), he was very sick by the time I could remember him. But I do remember reciting poetry for him when I was a wee thing, and him sitting there and enjoying it. I love how he looks here. What a gentleman.

My uncle Tony (the oldest) is sitting far over to the left. Singular, set apart – as so many oldest kids are. Tony is the one who sent me a care package of Dunkin Donuts coffee to Block Island. There’s something so Seamus-esque about him (one of his grandkids).

Next to Tony sits Ginger, the dog. When we were little kids, my dad would regale us all with funny dog stories from his childhood, and all of the dogs live on, to this day, because of those stories: their personalities, their time with the family, their breed – Skipper, Peanuts … This particular dog is Ginger. Of course she is!!

On the other side of Ginger sits my uncle Jimmy – my godfather – star of many many many crazy stories in my family (this being one of them.) A one of a kind type of guy, always in trouble, but always forgiven – I love how here, he’s looking off, contemplating his upcoming plan of worldwide domination or destruction. I love this picture – of Jimmy and my Dad.

My dad sits on the ground, and holds onto his brother Joe’s foot, which is just so sweet to me. To my eye, my dad looks pretty much exactly the same as he always did. Handsome. And look at that brotherly touch there. Uncle Joe, pudgy and curious, is glancing down to see “who the heck is touching me right now? What is happening??”

Mummy Gina holds my uncle Terry. You can see why I think that Tallulah Bankhead has a Mummy Gina-ish quality. Cousin Mike says that Patricia Neal reminds him of Mummy Gina. Similar types. Slender slim-ankled sloop-shouldered women, raspy voices, and very pretty. You can tell she’s wearing heels. This is a woman who baked a couple of cakes a day. A woman with a giant laugh, a great sense of humor, lover of the theatre and arts (both my grandparents were). I love to see pictures of her as a young woman.

Uncle Terry is also noticeably recognizable to me here, he looks very similar to the man he is now,the way his cheeks and mouth are – and if you look closely, you can see him wearing glasses. The other boys would blame Terry for everything any time they got in trouble (“Terry did it”….) – even if Terry wasn’t anywhere near the scene of the crime. Terry has a bemused patient and very very funny air about pretty much everything to this day.

These are people I love. My uncles. My father. In the side yard in Natick, posing for a photograph. And only Tony, my dad and Terry are really looking at the camera. Everyone else is a bit preoccupied, which gives the photo its candid beautiful air.

A time gone by, but with us still.

Thanks, Uncle Tom.