199. Charles Frederick Meier Jr. (Adelaide Harriet Stafford , Catherine S. Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 10 Apr 1923 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He died on 8 Jan 2000 in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa, California, USA. He was buried on 12 Oct 2000 in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Charles married Erna Georgette Pfeiffer on 9 Sep 1950 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
They had the following children.
+ 292 F i Christine Louise Meier. + 293 F ii Cynthia Anne "Cindy" Meier.
200. Rosella Pryne (Rose Stafford , Catherine S. Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 28 Feb 1924 in , , Florida, USA. She died on 18 Jul 2007 in Puyallup, Pierce, Washington, USA. She was buried in Tahoma National Cemetery, Covington, King, Washington, USA.
Rosella married Albert Edward Fischer in Aug 1946 in , , Indiana, USA. Albert was born on 21 Jun 1924. He died on 25 Dec 2012 in Washington, USA.
They had the following children.
294 F i Barbara Rose Fischer.
201. Gilbert Albert Pryne Jr. (Rose Stafford , Catherine S. Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 24 Aug 1926 in Lakewood, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA. He died on 30 Jul 2005 in Brecksville, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA. He was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Hiram, Portage, Ohio, USA.
Gilbert married Anne Elizabeth Blair, daughter of William Wallace Blair and Jean Thomas, on 14 Jun 1950 in Lakewood, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA. Anne was born on 3 Jun 1921 in Portage, Portage, Ohio, USA. She died on 13 May 1992 in Brecksville, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA. She was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Hiram, Portage, Ohio, USA.
They had the following children.
+ 295 M i John David Pryne. 296 F ii Jean Blair "Jeannie" Pryne. + 297 M iii William Wallace "Wally" Pryne. 298 M iv James William Pryne.
203. Bertha Amelia Moffitt (James Aloishus Moffitt , Elizabeth Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 10 Sep 1901 in Appanoose, Hancock, Illinois, USA. She died on 4 Nov 1994 in Fort Madison, Lee, Iowa, USA. She was buried in Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA.
Bertha Moffitt Bush Kerr was a very large part of keeping our family history alive. Bertha having stayed in the Nauvoo area had kept track of the various branches of the family and was able to share that information with me. I have since been able to locate many branches of the family which I never could have done without her help. I am including the letters I have from her because I feel it shows how important she felt family was. Blaine A. Brady
Nauvoo Ill.
Nov. 4, 1977Dear Blaine,
I hope you won't mind if I'm not formal, but thought since we are relatives we may as well act like it. I'm not sure you will be able to read this as I don't do quite as well as I did years ago.
I'm sorry I am so slow getting this information for you, but decided to paint the walls & woodwork in my dining room and it took longer than I expected. My daughter Elaine Foehring offered to help me get some dates from the Cemetery, but just as we were leaving an old friend stopped by to visit so didn't get there. Today I went alone and came up with some dates you may want. First the stone you saw with the name Terrance Brady is undoubtly My great grandparents and your great, great, great grandparents I think. The stone was probably put there after Mike Brady's wife died in 1937. The dates I copied are as follows Terrance Brady died Sept. 13, 1854 age 40 years. No birth date given. His wife Bridget Brady Jan. 1-1822 died Sept. 15-1892. Michael Brady Oct. 8-1843 - Mar. 11-1917 His wife Mary Brady Jan. 1-1847 - Feb. 18-1937.
I remember her well, but just barely remember Uncle Mike. I could not find a stone for Uncle Jim Brady, but since he was not married there probably isn't one.
My grandparents were Thomas N. Moffitt July 15, 1845 - May 13, 1935. Elizabeth Oct. 22-1847 - Nov. 17-1912. Also found Mary E. (Brady) Ogden July 9-1840 - Jan 24-1927. Her husband Wm July 10-1837 - Jan 27-1912. I never knew them as they lived in Des Moines Iowa. Remember meeting one or two daughters.
Thanks so much for the picture and tell your grandfather if he ever visits Nauvoo while I'm still here I would be very glad to meet him. Am sending a clipping from a death notice of one of Mike Brady's darghters. By the way I'm sure you meant your grandfather would be a cousin to my DAd not my Mother.
If I come up with more information will be glad to pass it along to you.
As ever
Bertha (Moffitt) Bush
(The dates I sent first were on the Stones at the cemetery so should be correct)
Nauvoo Ill.
Jan. 22, 1978Dear Blaine,
Am sorry I have been so slow in answering but have spent most of the last two weeks in bed with the flu. Sure had it hard but was lucky to have a grandaughter a student at Iowa City who was home for Christmas break. She offered to stay with me until she had to go back to school. Then my neighbor offered to give me penisillum shots. She came every day for 10 days. If I had to go out in the cold to the Dr's office I'm afraid I wouldn't have made it.
Am sending what information I have here.
Buelah Gotschall is the only decendant of Michael & Mary Brady now living. I wrote to my cousin in Chicago to get it.
As for the ones from the Rectory, I'll have my daughter-in-law check if she can find Father Wissing there, but he spends so much time over at the school, he is hard to find. I don't know when I'll be able to go to town.
Michael & Jim Brady were of course my great Uncles and while I remember Uncle Mike & Aunt Mary I think Uncle Jim died when I was quite small. I remember my Dad saying he lived with them as he was not married.
Best Wishes Bertha Bush
Bertha married Eldred George Bush, son of George Hiram Bush and Louise M. Schneider, on 8 Feb 1932 in Greenfield, Adair, Iowa, USA. Eldred was born on 12 Jun 1905 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He died on 18 Dec 1976 in Sonora, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He was buried on 21 Dec 1976 in Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetary, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA.
Obituaries
Elred BushEldred George Bush, 71 of Nauvoo died at 7:50 p.m. Saturday in Nauvoo. He was born June 12, 1905 in Nauvoo, the son of the late George H. and Lulu Schneider Bush. He married Bertha Moffitt Feb. 8, 1932, in Greenfield, Iowa. She survives. Mr. Bush was a retired farmer. He is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Francis (Elaine) Foehring of Fort Madison, Mrs. Dorothy Millmeyer and Mrs. Howard (Mary Lou) Freesmeier, both of West Point; one son, Donald J. of Nauvoo; one brother, Harold of Nauvoo; 14 grandchildren and four step-grandchildren. Mr. Bush was preceded in death by one sister and one grandson. A funeral service was held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Fiedler Funeral home. The Rev. John Wissing officiated. Internment was in SS Peter and Paul Cemetery. Nauvoo Grapevine, December 23, 1976.
They had the following children.
+ 299 F i Elaine Ruth Bush. + 300 F ii Dorothy Ann Bush. + 301 F iii Mary Louise Bush was born on 12 Oct 1938. She died on 19 Sep 1997. + 302 M iv Donald James "Donnie" Bush.
Bertha also married Charles Casper Kerr in May 1981. Charles was born on 26 Apr 1902. He died on 19 Jan 1993 in Fort Madison, Lee, Iowa, USA.
206. Merrill Francis Ogden Sr. (Anna Theresa Moffitt , Elizabeth Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 22 Aug 1905 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He was christened on 17 Sep 1905 in Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He died on 29 Sep 1967 in Seattle, King, Washington, USA. He was buried in 1967 in Holy Rood Cemetery, Seattle, King, Washington.
"Merrill Francis Ogden, Sr. was born August 22, 1905 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. In 1908 the family moved to Seattle, where he attended St. Benedicts School and Seattle Preparatory School. On June 22, 1927 he married Julia Fances (Sis) Barry in St. Louis, Missouri. (1927 was also the year Charles Lidburgh flew solo over the Atlantic Ocean; the frist trans-Atlantic telephone call was made between New York and London; the Yankees, led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, swept the Pittsburg Pirates in the World Series; and Henry Ford unveiled the sleek, new Model A!) Sis was born April 18, 1907 in St. louis. They began their life together in St. Louis, where Merrill was half owner in a Lincoln Chrysler garage named "Sarah McPherson Garage". This was during prohibition, and we heard stories how gangsters would come in from East St. Louis to have their cars armor plated and the engines "modified"! Sis had a stillborn baby born, a boy, in 1928. A tornado hit St. Louis in 1929 and destroyed the garage, after which, they moved to Seattle. While visiting in St. Louis, Merrill, Jr. was born. In 1935 they lived on Queen Anne Hill before they moved to Buffalo, New York where Merrill Sr. worked for "Romco Piston Rings Corp." as a factory representative. The company transferred him to Seattle in 1936, where they rented a home at 2219 North 54th Street in the Latona district. In 1937 they bought their first home at 11554 N E 117th for $2200. The home was on an acre of land, had 3 bedrooms, and a garage in the basement. The garage had a four foot grease pit he could use to lube and change the oil without using a jack. In the kitchen area he built a kitchen nook, adding also a double garage with deck above. They had 50 chickens and one milk cow! In 1944 they moved to 211 N W 143rd, in Broadview area in Seattle. In 1946 he started building their new home at 12240 6th Ave N W, also in Broadview. The home was on a double lot with a beautiful view of Puget Sound and the Olymic Mountains. They moved into their new (but unfinished) home in 1946. Merrill remembers his dad and some of his friends, Kenny Love, Cuz (Ernie Swartz), Dick Morrison and Dan Lynch, in the kitchen singing. The Sunnybrook Bourbon bottle came with a songbook and they would harmonize all the old songs: My Darling Clementine, Sweet Adeline, Little Brown Jug, My Wild Irish Rose, Old Folks at Home, Oh Susanna, Let Me Call You Sweetheart and many more. Merrill died September 29, 1967 and Sis died September 19, 1992 and both are buried in Holyrood Cemetery in Shoreline, WA." by Doris Larsen Ogden.
"MERRILL F. OGDEN, SR.
Rosary for Merrill F. Ogden, Sr., 62, of 12240 Sixth Ave. N.W., who died Friday at his home, will be said at 7:30 p.m. today at Hoffner's Fisher-Kalfus chapel. Requiem Mass will be said tomorrow at Christ the King Church by Mr. Ogden's brother, the Rev. William J. Ogden , Hoquiam.
Burial will be at Holyrood.
Born in Nauvoo, Ill., Mr. Ogden came here in 1908. He was a manufacturer's representative. He attended Seattle Preparatory School. Surviving besides his brother are his wife Frances; two sons, William J. and Merrill F. Ogden, Jr., both of Edmonds, and two daughters, Mrs. John Kinsella, Seattle, and Mrs. Robert Moore, Tacoma." Seattle Daily Times, Sunday, October 1, 1967.
Merrill married Julia Frances Barry, daughter of Patrick Barry and Elizabeth Sheehan, on 22 Jun 1927 in St. Louis, , Missouri, USA. Julia was born on 18 Apr 1907 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was christened in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She died on 19 Sep 1992 in Seattle, King, Washington, USA. She was buried on 23 Sep 1992 in Holyrood Cemetery, Seattle, King, Washington, USA.
They had the following children.
+ 303 M i Merrill Francis Ogden Jr.. + 304 F ii Patrica Elizabeth Ogden was born on 9 Aug 1931. She died on 29 Apr 2013. + 305 F iii Mary Ann Ogden. + 306 M iv William Joseph Ogden.
207. Joseph Claude "Joseph Edward Reimbold,Sr." Reimbold (Lucy Fedelia Moffitt , Elizabeth Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 23 May 1902 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He was christened on 8 Jun 1902 in Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He died on 11 Nov 1962 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wi, USA.
Joseph's middle name started out as Claude after one of his mother's friends. He however didn't like the name and changed it to Edward after his father when he started school.
Joseph Edward Reimbold,Sr. married Marie Amelia Olsen, daughter of Martin Olsen and Bertha Kolden, in May in Janesville, Rock, Wi, USA. Marie was born on 15 Apr 1902 in Monroe, Green, Wi, USA. She died on 22 May 1974 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wi, USA.
They had the following children.
+ 307 F i Rosemary Marie Reimbold. 308 M ii Joseph Edward Reimbold Jr.. + 309 M iii William Henry Reimbold. + 310 F iv Norma Jean Reimbold.
209. Henry Aloishus "Henry Edward Reimbold" Reimbold (Lucy Fedelia Moffitt , Elizabeth Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 20 Jan 1909 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He was christened on 4 Jul 1909 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. He died on 7 Dec 1992 in Carbondale, Jackson, Illinois, USA. He was buried on 12 Dec 1992 in Oakland Cemetery, Carbondale, Jackson, Illinois.
Obituary - "Henry E. Reimbold, June 20, 1909 - December 7, 1992. Henry E. Reimbold, 83, of Carbondale, Ill., died at 2:55 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7, at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. A son of Edward and Lucy Moffitt Reimbold, he was born June 20, 1909, in Nauvoo. He married Constance Faulkner at Nauvoo, on June 17, 1936, and she survives. In 1974, after 40 years of service, he retired from the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad. He was a member of the St. Francis of Xavier Catholic Churc in Carbondale. Surviving besides his wife are six sons: Robert and Betty of Brookfield, Richard and Irene of Mt. Clemens, MI., Edward and Lorelle of Cobden, Patrick and Maria of Tulsa, Okla., and John and Shirley of Carbondale; two daughters, Mary Anne and Gus Casey of St. Charles, and Kathryn and Jack Clemens of San Diego, Calif.; 28 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Kathleen Veith of Midlotian, Ill. He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, and one sister. Funeral srevices were held Saturday, Dec. 12, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Carbondale, with Father Carl Scherer officiating, and burial in Oakland Cemetery, Carbondale on Dec. 11. Memorials may be made to St. Franics Xavier Catholic Church, Carbondale; or St. Andrews Catholic School, Murphysboro."
Henry's death information was obtained from his obituary. His birth was recorded in the Moffitt Family Bible. The birth record appears to list the middle initial as "A." which is different from what Henry gave me.
Henry's christening record lists his name as Henry Aloishus Reimbold. Henry did not like the middle name Aloishus so had it legally changed to Edward after his father.
"I remember a lot about Henry A. Reimbold. He was my maternal grandfather. We used to visit with him and Constance, my grandmother at the farm of Aloysius Faulkner, my maternal great grandfather in Nauvoo, Illinois when I was very young. They owned a house at 61st and Lawndale in Chicago and I remember fondly visiting my 6 uncles there. My mother's youngest brother John Reimbold was like an older brother to me as I had no older siblings. He was the youngest of 8 and I was the the eldest of 8. He was two years my senior and we were best of friends throughout high school and college as well. Henry was an avid baseball fan and particularly fond of the Chicago White Sox. His favorite read was the Sporting News and he smoked Dutch Masters cigars. He worked nights for the railroad. First at Dearborn Street Station and then later at Union Station. He was a ticket seller at the station. Mary Anne, my mother, was the eldest daughter of Connie and Henry. She married my father, Augustine W. Casey at St. Nicholas Church on Lawndale Avenue in Chicago. They grew up about one block from each other. Augustine was the the second eldest of five children born to Peter Casey and Nora Casey nee Galvin. Peter Casey was from Templemore, Ireland and Nora Galvin from Galway, Ireland." Michael J. Casey, Aurura, Illinois, 7/17/2007
Henry Edward Reimbold married Constance Marjorie Faulkner, daughter of Mary Aloishus Faulkner and Anna Emma Haas, on 17 Jun 1936 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. Constance was born on 30 Jul 1911 in Sonora, Hancock, Illinois, USA. She was christened on 20 Aug 1911 in Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. She died on 17 May 2016 in Carbondale, Jackson, Illinois, USA. She was buried on 23 May 2016 in Oakland Cemetery, Carbondale, Illinois, USA.
CARBONDALE — Constance M. Reimbold, 104, passed away peacefully in her son’s home on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.
Connie was born on July 30, 1911, to Aloysius and Anna (Haas) Faulkner in Nauvoo.
She married Henry E. Reimbold on June 17, 1936, in Nauvoo. He preceded her in death Dec. 7, 1992. They were married for 56 years.
She was a member of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Carbondale, the St. Francis Heritage Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
After her education at Western Illinois Teacher’s College, her career began in one-room schools in Hancock County and she continued teaching throughout the Depression. She retired from teaching after her marriage in 1936 but years later applied her skills to help students in a resource center at Queen of Peach High School in Burbank.
Survivors include six sons, Robert and Betty, Richard and Irene, Edward and Barbara, Donald and Sandy, Patrick, and John and Shirley Reimbold; daughter, Kathryn and Jack Clemens; son-in-law Gus Casey; four sisters, Maxine Kokjohn, Ann Eibon, Jeanne Kiefer, and Rosemary and Dick Groene; 29 grandchildren; 66 great-grandchildren; and 14 great-great-grandchildren.
She is also preceded in death by her parents; one daughter, Mary Anne Casey; two brothers; and two sisters.
Services for Connie will be at 10 a.m. Monday, May 23, in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Carbondale, with Father Robert Flannery officiating. Burial will follow in Oakland Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at Meredith Funeral Home in Carbondale.
Memorials to the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and to Celtic Hospice are the preferred form of remembrance and will be accepted by Meredith Funeral Home.
They had the following children.
+ 311 F i Mary Anne Reimbold was born on 19 Mar 1937. She died on 13 Sep 2010. + 312 M ii Robert Joseph "Bob" Reimbold. + 313 M iii Richard Henry "Dick" Reimbold. + 314 M iv Edward John "Ed" Reimbold. + 315 M v Donald James "Don" Reimbold. + 316 F vi Kathryn Elizabeth "Kathy" Reimbold. + 317 M vii Patrick William "Pat" Reimbold. + 318 M viii John Gerard Reimbold.
210. Mary Elizabeth Catherine "Kathleen" Reimbold (Lucy Fedelia Moffitt , Elizabeth Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 1 Nov 1916 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. She was christened on 12 Nov 1916 in Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. She died in Dec 2002 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. She was buried in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.
The Christening records at SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church have the name Mary Elizabeth Catherine Reimbold. The name Mary Elizabeth Kathleen Reimbold was given to by Kathleen as her name. At the time of her birth the names were probably for her mother's Aunt Mary Brady Ogden, her Grandmother Elizabeth Brady Ogden and her mothers Aunt Catherine Brady Stafford.
Kathleen married Albert John Veith, son of Henry F. Veith and Annette A., on 6 Nov 1939 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA. Albert was born on 11 Feb 1916 in Keokuk, Lee, Iowa, USA. He died on 7 Apr 1989 in Midlothian, Cook, Illinois, USA. He was buried in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.
They had the following children.
+ 319 F i Mary Therese Veith. + 320 M ii Albert Edward "Al" Veith. + 321 M iii Thomas Charles Veith. 322 M iv Joseph Veith was born in 1949 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. He died in 1949 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. 323 F v Roseann Veith. + 324 M vi Henry Joseph "Hank" Veith. + 325 M vii Michael Gerard Veith. + 326 F viii Kathleen Marie Veith.
211. William Albert Moffitt Jr. (William Albert Moffitt , Elizabeth Brady , Bridget , James , ) was born on 19 Jun 1919 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was christened in 1919 in St. Louis Cathedral, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. He died on 28 May 2010 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
William A. Moffitt, Jr. was born June 19, 1919, a year to the day of the wedding of his parents, William A. Moffitt, Sr. and Marie Solien Moffitt, in 1918. He attended Cathedral Grade School and St. Louis University High School and was graduated with a classical AB degree from the College of Arts ans Sciences of St. Louis University in June 1941. He was selected to edit the Alumni News of St. Louis University. The Alumni News was published through the Alumni Office of the University. Father Willian (Bill) Ryan, S.J. was in Charge of Alumni Affairs.
Delores Mary Finan was the secretary to Father Ryan. The first date of William A. Moffitt, Jr and Dolores Mary Finan was on July 14, 1941. They attended an outdoors dance at Norwood Hills Country Club.
Dolores Mary Finan was the daughter of Thomas J. Finan, Sr. and Amanda Johanna (Mae) Finnan. Her brother, Thomas J. Finan, Jr., died in 1976. Her sister Mary Margaret (Bunny) Finan Hermann lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dolores Mary Finan attended St. Engelbert's Grade School and was graduated from Xavier High School and attended classes at St. Louis University.
William A. Moffitt, Jr. enrolled in the summer session of the Law School at St. Louis University and continued his law studies until July 1942, when he entered the Army. He served form July 1943 to February 1946, most of such service being with the Judge Advocate Section of IX Corps Headquarters in the United States, Hawaii, the Philippines and Japan. He was discharged with the rank of technical sergeant in February, 1946.
During the war years Dolores Mary Finan held several secretarial positions. She was secretary to the manager of Combustion Engineering when William A. Moffitt, Jr. and Dolores Mary Finan were married on April 26, 1946 in St. Engelbert's parish in St. Louis. Their wedding breakfast was held at the place they had their first date, Norwood Hills Country Club.
he School of Law at St. Louis University was closed during the war years. While waiting for classes to become available to him, William A. Moffitt, Jr. worked part time as an Assistant to the Director of Public Relations at the University. When classes became available he returned to the Law School. He finished law school in January 1948 and after passing the bar exam was admitted to practice in April 1948. Graduation from Law School was held jointly with the June 1948 class in June 1948. His daughter and her mother attended graduation.
Four children were born of the marriage between William A. Moffitt, Jr. and Dolores Finan Moffitt.
Patricia Anne (Pam) Moffitt Bell was a special education teacher before her marriage to Mark R. Bell, an accountant. They are the parents of two sons: Mark Robert Bell, and Brendan Moffitt Bell. The Bells make their home in Atlanta, Georgia.
Maureen Moffitt Wilt is an Assistant Professor of Social Work in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Cenral Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri. She has two sons: Christopher Wilt and Robert Westley (Wes) Wilt. She lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area.
Dr. William A. (Mike) Moffitt III and Dr. Jacqueline Pfeifer are both psychologists with their offices in Olathe and Leavenworth, Kansas. They have two girls: Kelsey Moffitt and Annalise Moffitt.
Terrence Finan Moffitt, a twin is an attorney practicing in the St. Louis area. His wife, Diane Mueller Moffitt, is a school teacher. They have two children: Megan Emily Moffitt and Michael Moffitt. Their home is in Glendale, Missouri.
While Dolres Moffitt was providing the daily care for the family, William A. Moffitt, Jr. was engaged in the private practice of law in the St. Louis area. He specialized in appellate practice, wills, probate, will contests and trust litigation. For a number of years until he retired he represented Shriners Hospitals For Crippled Children in their will contest and trust litigation in the City of St. Louis, County of St. Louis and in neighboring counties. He was a member of the Missouri Bar, The Bar Association of Metroplitan St. Louis, and The American Bar Association. He was active in committee work of local and state bar associations. William A. Moffitt, Jr. was a member of a number of partnerships including on with his son, Terrence Finan Moffitt.
When her twin sons were in high school, Dolores Finan Moffitt returned to the business world. Her first position was as bookeeper at Rosary High School from 1970 to 1980. In 1980 she took a position in the Board Office of the Board of Education of the City of Ladue. Her job description gave no clue as to what her duties actually were. She was hired to be the Secretary to the Business Manager. In addition to performing the designated duties, Dolores Finan Moffitt prepared the payroll for the entire district, balanced all bank account statements, except the pay roll account, which she could not balance because she was the one who had prepared the pay roll account. When she retired in 1991 it was necessary for the Ladue School District to hire four workers so that her former duties could be accomplished.
William A. Moffitt, Jr. retired in 2000. They live in St. Louis County, Missouri.
This history was prepared by William A. Moffitt, Jr.
Written by Bill Moffitt 1975If I had been born a girl, many things would have been different. First of all, I would have been named Helga Elizabeth Moffitt after my maternal and paternal grandmothers. Of much greater importance to me, and to those of you for whom these words are intended, I would never have been able to marry Dolores Finan and have four fine children.
It may seem presumptuous to write about our and your past. These words are not, however, intended primarily for our children. They have heard most of what will be stated here over the years. Now Pam and Mark have moved to California and the first grandchild of ours is about to be born as I begin to write. How many grandchildren will there be and where in the country, the world or the universe they will live are presently unknown to us. It is for them and their descendants who may not have know us that these remembrances of things past are intended. It is said a young man dreams, a mature man achieves and an old man remembers. At this time, I am not young, but I am not yet old, but there are things I do remember. I urge each parent for his or her own group to continue what has been began here for each family unit. In that way each family will preserve for itself some knowledge of what factors, genetic, social and familial, have made each individual, at least in part what he or she is and will become.
I was born June 19, 1919 in St. Louis, Missouri. Naturally, I had to have parents. They were William A Moffitt, Jr. and Marie Solien Moffitt. They met in Minot, North Dakota, where my mother was teaching school and where my father had come to work with his brother-in-law, William Ogden in what was called the Normal School. They met on ice, so in one sense you could say they had a cool beginning. I think that Mark Bell may enjoy that feeble attempt at humor. At any rate, family history has it that my father saw my mother skating and asked her brother, Noël Solien, to introduce them. Of such beginnings is our family history started. But, of course, in each case, Marie Solien and
Bill Moffitt had to come from somewhere and some parents. The places they came from originally where Stoughtan, Wisconsin and Nauvoo, Illinois, and their parents were Oleus J. Solien and Helga Fauchald and Thomas Moffitt and Elizabeth Brady.THE NORWEGIAN SIDE
As my children have heard their mother say, all their bad traits come from the Norwegian ancestry, so it is only fitting that we begin with that part of the family history. Olaus Solien and Helga Fauchald were both born in Norway. Grandpa Solien, who always signed the letters I saw with his initials O.J. Solien only, was the son of a schoolteacher in Norway. When he came to this country, he did not want to adapt the ordinary Scandinavian custom of becoming Olausson or Olafson, but took instead the name Solien, sunny land or sunny valley. Noel Solien in Jamestown has a stove from the Solien farm in Norway, which has been made into a display piece with an appropriate inscription. Dolores and I saw it this summer when we visited Jamestown.
O. J Solien and Helga Fauchald Solien settled in Stoughton, Wisconsin where O. J Solien found work in a match factory. In those day, matches were wooden and sulphur tipped. It was necessary that the factory workers wear tight fitting hats to cut down the chances of being burned about the head and face. O.J. Solien always claimed tight fitting caps were the cause of his baldness. At any rate, I can never remember a time when my grandfather was not bald, and I visited in my mother’s parent’s home every other summer until I was fourteen years of age. My grandfather, who was a quiet man, but who always had a twinkle in his eye, always told me the reason he was bald was because he wanted to part his hair with a towel. Of interest to Mike and Terry is that my mother’s oldest brother, Marvin Solien, was also bald for many years. Perhaps, working in a match factory had nothing to do with Grandpa Solien’s baldness. Mike and Terry can take comfort in the fact that Noel Solien at eighty years of age still has a full head of hair, but they should also remember that their maternal grandfather, Thomas J. Finan, had a certain sparseness of covering for the top of his head.
O.J. Solien and Helga Fauchald Solien had five children: Marvin Solien, Oscar Solien, Marie Solien, Noel Solien and Esther Solien. All the children were born in Stoughton, Wisconsin. Helga Fauchald Solien had a brother, Julius Fauchald, a Norwegian immigrant, also who came to this country, and became only authentic millionaire in any of the direct family lines. I do not know if Fred Hebeler could qualify, as such, and he was in the family only by marriage to Grandma Finan’s sister.
At one time, Julius Fauchald became ill and was hospitalized. Family history has it he was nursed to health by another Norwegian immigrant, Aunt Ingrid, whom he subsequently married, and that their first pieces of furniture were packing crates.
Uncle Julius went into the mercantile business. He would go to small towns in the areas populated by Norwegians and other Scandinavian immigrants, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas and open 5and 10 cent stores and that when the chain store, Kresge and Woolworth, for example came in, he would sell out to one of the chains and move on, repeating the process, opening and selling such stores and building up capital.
In time, he opened The New York Department Store in Minot, North Dakota. My Uncle Marvin and my Uncle Noel, and I believe, my Uncle Oscar all moved to Minot and worked for Uncle Julius in The New York Department Sore. Uncle Noel claims that it was Uncle Marvin who made his Uncle Julius a rich man.
Marie Solien, born in Stoughton, Wisconsin, grew up there and eventually went to teacher’s college in Madison Wisconsin with her great and good friend, Eleanor Micekelson. Subsequently she obtained a position teaching in Minot, North Dakota, joining her brothers who were already living there. Grandpa and Grandma Solien and your youngest child, Esther, moved finally also to Minot and thus all my visits to my grandparents home were to North Dakota.
Julius Fauchald while accumulating wealth was also producing a family of his own. Their names have Norwegian flavor: Melvin, Marie, Nora, Nils, Jalmar, Brigid. Nora Fauchald was a famous singer in her day, and at one time was a soloist with the famous bandleader, Philip Sousa. Whenever the Sousa band performed in the St. Louis area, the Moffitt trio had to go to see her perform. I remember going to one performance at a fair in Illinois, and I remember one other time going backstage to visit Nora in her dressing room. Marie Fauchald Franks was a particular favorite of my mothers, and she was and is a great favorite of Dolores and of me. As I write, her husband Joe Franks is not well. When we were in North Dakota this summer, Aunt Esther Solien Falconer,
Dolores and I visited in the home of Marie and Joe Franks and had a thoroughly delightful afternoon. Marie’s sister, Brigid, was staying with Marie. Dolores and I found her to be a competently charming person.
With such a large family for Uncle Julius to find places for, Marvin Solien realized that he should strike out on his own. He and Noel Solien borrowed money from Julius Fauchald and opened Solien Brothers Store in Jamestown, North Dakota.
Marvin Solien married Olga Wardswain. They had five children: Kay Solien, Elizabeth (Libby) Solien, Marvin Solien, Jr. Robert Solien, Mary Lou Solien. Kay is married to--------. They have adopted----------.
Elizabeth Solien is married to
They have a daughter that is a physician. Marvin Solien married late in life. His wife had children by her first marriage. They also have----
Robert Solien is vice president of a bank in Jamestown and Mary Lou Solien is married to a dentist. Robert Solien and Mary Lou Solien were born after the years that I visited North Dakota and I have had very little contact with them over the years. We saw Robert Solien in the bank this summer, but Mary Lou was at the Lake and with Noel’s heart attacks and hospital confinement, we did not stop at the Lake as Noel had planned for us to do.
Noel Solien married Evva Cunningham. They have no children, but both of them are very close to Dolores and me. Oscar Solien died in an influenza epidemic of World War I. Esther Solien, the youngest of the family married Kenneth Falconer, who worked for the Great Northern Railroad until his retirement. After his retirement, he was Public Administrator in Minot until he died of a heart attack the day we were taking Dolores to St. Mary’s Hospital for her last in the series of back operations.THE MOFFITTS AND THE BRADYS
So that you can have a perspective of what the backgrounds were when Marie Solien was introduced to Bill Moffitt on ice in Minot, North Dakota, those long years ago, we switch now to Nauvoo, Illinois. Somewhere in our house there is or should be the original land grant deed signed by President Martin Van Burn for the Moffitt Farm outside Nauvoo, Illinois. In its time, this farm saw the birth of thirteen children to Thomas Moffitt and Elizabeth Brady. I know the names of the following children, James Moffitt, Mayme Moffit, Lucy Moffitt Reimbold, Anna Moffitt Ogden, Theodore (Ted) Moffitt, William A Moffitt Sr., Bernie ( Bernadette or Bernadine) Moffitt, Otelia (Tilly) Moffitt and Bess Moffitt. At times, I spell phonetically from memories of childhood. Neither my mother nor my father is here to ask what the names actually were or how they were spelled. I knew them all once, but now some are gone. It is for such a reason that I urge each parent to write down similar background material while it is available so that future generations can at least have the correct spelling of some of the collaterals on the family tree.
I never knew my father’s mother, Elizabeth Brady. She was died before I was born. I never knew or do not remember Mayme Moffitt, my father’s sister, who stayed and took care of her father until her death. I remember my father’s father, Thomas Moffitt, living with Aunt Bess Moffitt in a house in town at Nauvoo, Illinois. I doubt that he ever really knew me. I remember him as a quiet very gentle, soft-spoken man with white hair and a white beard. He lived to be eighty-nine years old. He never, according to my father, weighed more than one hundred thirty five pounds in his life, but my dad said his father could outwork men weighing twice as much as he did. Grandpa Moffitt was stone deaf from the time he was thirty-five years old and blind for the last ten years of his life, but his mind supposedly was alert until very close to his death. We visited in Nauvoo on a number of occasions, usually for weddings or times like my cousin William’s first Mass, when I wore knickers and check and double check socks., because the United States was when in the Amos and Andy Radio Craze, but I can never remember engaging in a direct conversation with my grandfather who was deaf all the time I knew him.
They tell the story that in the earlier days of his deafness, before his eyesight began to fail that Thomas Moffitt could read lips, at least a little. One day he had walked into Nauvoo from the family farm and was watching a group play cards in the local tavern. One man, to make conversation, looked up, saw my grandfather and asked, “How are crops, Tom?” Without a second’s hesitation, my grandfather responded, “Oh, thanks, I’ll have a beer.” Legend has it that the trapped card player muttered,” That’s the last time I’ll ask Tom Moffitt how his crops are” as he ordered and paid for the unoffered beer.
James Moffitt was the oldest son. Following the Irish custom of primogeniture, the family farm went to him and Grandpa Moffitt moved into town with Aunt Bess. The family farm had been productive enough to support the entire Moffitt family while they were growing up, but when James Moffitt took over, there was nothing for my Uncle Ted Moffitt or my father in the small farming community of Nauvoo, Illinois, now famous for being the starting point of the westward trek of the Mormons, but then more renowned for being the site of many concord grape vineyards. Prohibition and the depression had dual effectiveness on Nauvoo, which did not begin its rebirth until the Mormons came back later and started to rebuild parts of the city as a showplace of Mormon history. All that was in the future when I visited Nauvoo in the 1920s and 1930s.
James Moffitt had three children, all extremely tall for those days, Bernard and Cyril, two boys who never married although both lived to adulthood, and my cousin Bertha Moffitt, who married Eldred Bush, and is still living in Nauvoo as a writer. She was always kind to my parents and was extremely thoughtful after my mother died when my father was going through the bad period of eleven months that he lived after my mother’s death.
In time, James Moffitt lost the Moffitt farm. I do not know the particulars, but the farm is no longer in the hands of any Moffitt or descendant of any Moffitt.
Mayme Moffitt, who took the typical Irish role of staying home and looking after a widowed father, never married. As I said, she died before I can remember her.
Lucy Moffitt married Ed Reimbold. They also lived in the town of Nauvoo proper. I remember their home well. It was a two story white frame building with electricity in the later years, but no inside plumbing at any time. There was a two seater privy in the back with the appropriate Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck catalog and the inevitable flies in the heat of the summer. In winter, there was a chamber pot in every room. There was no central heating and the rooms were cold. The beds were big and the mattresses soft and the covers many and warm. When you got in bed, you sank way down and the mattress and covers enveloped you in a feeling of continued warmth and well being that you had first experienced as soon as Aunt Lucy greeted you at the door. The shock came when nature required you in the middle of the night to get out from all that warmth and place your nice warm bottom on the ice cold china rim of the chamber pot. The first contact sent a chill through your entire body from which you never recovered really for some time after you were back in the warmth of the bed.
I preferred to stay at Aunt Lucy’s when we went to Nauvoo. There were children there or thereabouts and most important of all a big tree swing hung from the big tree in the front yard. Even if there were no children at home a young boy could use the swing by the hour and pretend that he was way up in the air piloting the plane that were beginning to be seen occasionally in the sky.
Lucy and Ed Reimbold had four children whose names I now recall. The first three were considerably older than I was. The youngest child, a daughter, was about a year older than I. Joseph Reimbold was married and living away from home from the time of my first recollections of Nauvoo. If I saw him at all, it was at the time of my cousin William Ogden’s first Mass. I have no memory of ever seeing or talking to him. Gertrude Reimbold was in religious life as long as I can remember her. She was called Sister Fabian. I saw her several times in Nauvoo and she visited in St. Louis on behalf of her religious order on many occasions. Sister Fabian died a year or so ago in Nauvoo. I did not know of her death until my cousin Bertha Bush wrote and told me long after the event. Henry Reimbord, Lucy’s other boy, worked originally for the railroad in Chicago. During the depression, he was laid off by the railroad and came to St. Louis and worked for my father who then had the AAA One Minute Key Company. It was Henry who first got me interested in basketball. For the time he spent in St. Louis, Henry Reimbold was an early idol of mine. He left my father’s employ and returned to Chicago, where he and his wife Connie still live. The last I heard he was still employed by one of the railroads. Since he is older than I am, he may be retired by now. His sister, Kathleen, who was about one year older than I, visited us in St. Louis one time when Henry was still working for my father. I was, I think, a freshman in high school at the time; I have a vague memory that she married some one from the Nauvoo area. I do not know where she is at this time.
Anna Moffitt, another of my father’s older sisters married William Ogden. They had two sons, William and Merrill. As long as I can remember, William Ogden, my cousin, has been in religious life. I remember the whole Moffitt Ogden clan gathered in Nauvoo for his first high Mass. He is now stationed in Seattle Washington. He shows up on his vacations every so often, unannounced and unexpected. There has never been much in common between Father William and me.
His younger brother’s name was Merrill, who was a gregarious, outgoing person. His father, who was at least in part responsible for my father going to Minot, North Dakota and meeting my mother, was killed in an automobile accident before I can remember. I have recollections of my cousin, William, his brother, Merrill and Aunt Anna visiting us at 4306 Maryland and Merrill playing and singing “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More” while accompanying himself on a ukulele. I place this visit at a time before I was in grade school.
At a subsequent time, Merrill and his mother moving to St. Louis to live.
Aunt Anna sewed for the Colonial Laundry on Olive Street and at one time lived with us at the 4306 Maryland Avenue apartment. She also had a room of her own in several places near us as I now recall.
She eventually left the St. Louis area to become a housekeeper for her son, Father William in several places and assignments. Merrill originally worked as an automobile mechanic for Sunset Ford when it was located on Lindell Boulevard. Then he and a partner, Elmer, who had been service manger for Sunset Ford, opened their own garage at Sarah and McPherson Avenues in St. Louis. I believe they did very well in the garage venture. At last, Merrill Ogden got the opportunity to go on the road selling piston rings. He eventually settled in Seattle, Washington, where he also built and sold several houses.
While in St. Louis, Merrill Ogden married Liz Berry. I remember going to the wedding. I was a very young boy in short pants. I thought the bride looked just beautiful in her white wedding dress, but what I remember most about the wedding was that the Berry’s had a litter of kittens. I got to take one home, and I called the kitten Patrick, but it turned later when she had a litter of kittens of her own that I should have called her Patricia. Lis Ogden had sisters named Hannah Marie and Elizabeth and a brother named Jackie in the St. Louis area. After they were gone, Merrill wound return periodically and we saw him over the years. He is now dead. His wife called me recently and talked to Dolores on the telephone but we did not see her on the trip.
My Uncle Ted also was older than my father. I think he first went to St. Joseph, Missouri when it came time for him to work a way for himself. My father indicated that at one time Ted was a motorman for the streetcar company. Whether that was in St. Joseph or in Kansas City, Missouri, I cannot now say. Uncle Ted was also married at a time before I knew him. How that marriage terminated I do not know, but when I can first recall my Uncle Ted he was a floorwalker of the Emery-Bird-Thayer Department Store in Kansas City, Missouri and he was married to Aunt Mayme. They had no children. Uncle Ted is now dead, but Aunt Mayme is still in Kansas City, Missouri. We usually hear from her at Christmas time.
Bernadette or Bernadine, Bernie, Moffitt and Otelia, Tilly, Moffitt were twin sisters of my father, who both lived to adulthood. I do not know if they are both alive or both dead. So far as I know neither of them married. One of them was institutionalized for a number of years. What her problem, if any, was not something that parents in my day discussed before children.
Bess Moffitt, as far as I can determine, returned from Kansas City to Nauvoo, when my Aunt Mayme Moffitt, my father’s sister, died to take care of her father, my grandfather, Thomas Moffitt. My first memory of Aunt Bess is that she worked at the Bank in Nauvoo and took care of my grandfather. For years my Aunt Bess kept company with a man I called Uncle Johnny. Years later I learned that the reason they could not get married was that Uncle Johnny had a wife in an institution. After Grandpa Moffitt died and after Johnny’s wife died, Bess and Johnny did not get married. Then Aunt Bess moved to Kansas City where she worked for a number of years for an insurance company. She is in a nursing home in Kansas City at the present time.THE MOFFITT-SOLIEN MARRIAGE
The Moffitt children, as they were growing, up lived on the farm. They went to a one-room schoolhouse until it was time to go out on their own. Uncle Jim had the farm. Ted went first. Then my father, who was the other boy to grow to maturity, followed in leaving home. My father, I believe, finished six grades in school. He claimed to have only read one book in his life, Black Beauty. The home he came from was Irish and Catholic. When it came time to make his own way, he went on the road. He was self-trained in many fields. He was also quiet and gentle most of the times until aroused, then he had quite a temper.
I am not certain just what he did from the time Dad first left the farm until he got to Minot and met my mother. His brother-in-law was a master carpenter and was building The Normal School in Minot. Dad was his helper. When the job was finished, they went to other places including Cheyenne, Wyoming, which my Dad said he dearly loved.
My mother and father corresponded after he was gone. I can imagine the consternation in the Solien household. As I said, my father came from a home that was Irish, Catholic, and drinking and card playing came naturally there in the area where everyone grew concord grapes and made their own wine. The Solien household, on the other hand, was Methodist, Norwegian and card playing and drinking were not permitted. I remember my grandfather telling me why he did not want cards played in his home. He said that when he was a “newcomer”, the term for immigrant then in vogue, in Stoughton, one pay day he got in a card game and won the entire pay of the fellow worker. Grandpa Solien said, “I got to thinking what would happen if I had been the one to lose, and I took the money I had just won and gave it back to the man. I told him I could not afford to lose such a sum and neither could he and that I was giving him the money back and that I was never going to gamble or play cards again”, and he always added “And I never did.”
My maternal grandparents were people of strong principles and strong actions.
My grandfather, I have said, wrote to my mother in English. Grandmother Solien always wrote to my mother in Norwegian. My Grandma Solien was one of the first persons I know to own an electric stove, but she kept a word-burning stove in the enclosed porch of their home in Minot for baking bread. She said you could not bake bread as well in an electric oven as you could with a wood burning stove.
Also on that enclosed back porch, Grandma Solien kept a wooden icebox. There she made Grandpa keep his Gummelhurst cheese, and would not let him keep his cheese in her electric refrigerator. When Grandpa Solien wanted to eat his Gummelhurst cheese, which is just a bit stinkier than Limburger cheese, he had to eat it on the back porch which also was separated from the kitchen by a solid door, almost airtight to guard against the rigors of North Dakota winters. Considering the odor of his favorite cheese, Grandma Solien’s actions may speak more to her nose and prudence than to strong principles.
Nevertheless, there had to be a growing uneasiness as the correspondence and visits to North Dakota continued. Neither my mother nor my father was young by this time. My mother had a steady job, she was teaching primary grades, but my father did not have a steady job. He had become a pitch man. Perhaps I should explain what a pitch man was or is. My father and his partner of the time would buy merchandise and go from town to town working their “pitch” to sell their merchandise at each stop, at a country fair or from a display case. Their merchandise might be hams, sausage or a product like “Never Leak Sodder”, spot remover or tie cleaner. Speaking to his son, Dad always claimed that their products were legitimate, but he and mother both told tales of what other “pitch men “ did, and they never did make it clear whether they ever returned to the same place with the memory span of the inhabitants.
On vacation, my dad and his partner, who was married, bought a houseboat and a small boat with an outboard motor for towing the houseboat, and began to work the Mississippi river towns in Minnesota heading south. Mother joined them when summer vacation came at her school. She operated as a “shill” at times for them. Again perhaps I should say what a “shill” does. Let us say Dad and his partner were demonstrating the potato peeler they were selling. When a crowd gathered, Dad or his partner would make his “pitch” demonstrating the facility with witch their “magic” potato peeler performed innumerable functions. When the pitch was over, Mother would step forth from the crowd and say” I’ll take one” or two, whatever the line was and attempt to get the assembled crowd started on a buying binge.
With what grief Grandpa and Grandma let mother go on that trip can be imagined.
I am certain their disapproval, at least from Grandma Solien, was vocal. At any rate Mother and Dad always remembered that summer as being one of the great periods of their lives.
When the summer ended, mother returned to fulfill her contract to teach for the year. She and Dad had an understanding; they would be married when school was out in the spring. Dad would find something to do in one place and every other summer Mother would return to North Dakota.
Reading between the lines of subsequent developments, my mother found little understanding when she returned to Minot. She was not married in her home town. No one from her family attended the wedding which took place on June 19, 1918 in a priest parlor in Kansas City, Missouri with my Uncle Ted and his first wife as the only attendants. Since my mother was not Catholic under existing regulations they could not be married at Mass in a church, and my Mother had to agree to raise me Catholic, something which she did with great zealousness and something, which I am certain, disturbed her parents. I will say this, however, that during all the summers I spent in North Dakota, Mother took me to Mass each Sunday and no comment was ever made in my presence about any inconvenience and no derogatory remark was ever made about my being a Catholic or that my father was one.
Mother, however, in an unguarded moment once said that her wedding day was one of the saddest days of her life.
Dad had opened a shop in what is now Boyd’s Downtown store. He sold leather goods and barber supplies and eventually called his business The Shave Easy Company after a “dressing” he made for preserving the leather straps. Straps were big items in those days; most men used straight razors to shave with. Many men had a razor for each day in the week. Some men had their own cups with bar soap and their own razors which they kept at the barber shop so that the barber could shave them each day. The straps were used to get and keep an “edge” on the straight razors. My dad also put an edge on razors with a hone. He used to “demonstrate” the edge he had put on a razor by pulling a hair from his head and shaving several layers from the same single hair. He would make such “demonstrations” in the window of the store he opened at 510 Pine Street in the Marion Roe Hotel Building. Such demonstrations plus walking across the store windows on his knees, with his feet criss -crossed behind him were designed to attract the passerby on Pine Street and hope to interest prospective purchasers to come into the store.
My Father always had to scramble for a living. He was one of the first people I know to buy a gold stamping machine. With it, if you bought a wallet or purse from Dad, he would stamp your name in gold on the purchase. If you already had a wallet or a purse, you could have your name stamped in gold thereon for a stated price per line.
The store hours were eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock at night and my Dad had to take a streetcar or bus to and from home, because Dad never did learn to drive a car. He did own a series of disasters known as automobiles, when my cousin Henry Reimbold lived next door to us on McPherson Avenue and worked for my father, because Henry could drive a car. I remember one particular car we nicknamed “The Evening Star” because it never started in the morning and only performed even possibly well at night. Again, I remember one trip to Nauvoo when we spent most of one day and one night in a garage in a small town in Illinois while an armature was being rewound.
Patricia (Pam) Moffitt BellWilliam A. Moffitt Jr., Bill, was the only son of an Irish father and a Norwegian mother. Bill married Dolores Finan. They were married sixty one years. In sickness, in health, in good times and in bad, Dad and Mom supported, helped and cared for each other. Now they are together again.
Dad, an only child, fathered four children. Our life and home on Harden Drive had to be very different from his childhood on Maryland Avenue. On Harden Drive, Dad helped me with my homework, Latin, English, Good Counsel newspaper editorials, etc. He taught me by example to say, “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper. I love you,” when I struggled with a foreign language like-MATH. He gave me the courage to say “I am sorry” to my own children, giving them the opportunity to see their mother as imperfect and human. Dad helped me by encouraging me, but never expecting me to be perfect. He believed in me when I did not believe in myself. I can still hear him say: “I’ve got all the confidence in the world in you. You‘ll do fine”
Dad loved to dance. He loved to dance with Dolores. When he and Mother were able, they danced the night away. But Dad also loved to sing. He did not have the voice of Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra, but he loved good lyrics and melodies. He loved the music of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Gershwin. Sarah Vaughn, Ray Conniff and The Sy Rady Singers played continuously on our HiFi. Dad would sing as he dried the dishes with us at night or during our Sunday breakfast cleanup. He taught me all the intros to these songs. He sang “I’ve Got a Crush on You, Sweetie Pie” as he walked, hugged and tried to comfort or quiet his crying children and grandchildren, only he would replace the child’s name for sweetie pie. I sang, likewise, to my infant sons when I wanted a special moment with them. Now I sing “I‘ve Got a Crush on You” to my twin grandsons and new granddaughter and think of Dad knowing that I now have “Someone to Watch Over Me”.
I loved going to the Muny Opera with him and humming the show tunes all the way home. Dad caroled with us as we walked door to door in the Our Lady of Good Counsel neighborhood singing Christmas carols. He cracked us up with Tom Lehrer’s, “I Hold Your Hand in Mine” at our annual Moffitt Christmas Program. It will remain the most memorable performance ever.
Dad’s music and singing filled our happy home on Harden Drive. He gave us a happy childhood in Good Counsel Parish, two warm homes and the gift of gathering. We gathered on Chamblee Lane all seventeen of us. We were always welcomed and loved in Bill and Dolores’ homes.
I know that Dad is now in that great celestial chorus singing with a new strong voice and until we all meet again, I know we will remember and cherish these happy memories of Dad singing to and with us.Dad, you are the music in my heart
Mark BellI have known Bill Moffitt since 1965 when I started dating Pam, thus I have known Bill for 45 years, nearly a lifetime. I will always remember and cherish the advice he had given me on a number of important life matters, adapting to unique aspects of army life, the importance of getting a CPA certificate, direction regarding a professional career and most importantly taking good care of Pam. Bill was always tolerant and reserved on some of the decisions Pam and I made even if he thought we were nuts! Bill was a loyal and true husband, father, in-law, grandfather and great grandfather and was a source of inspiration to Mark II and Brendan. He will be missed but his memory and impact on all our lives will have an everlasting effect. He will always be in our thoughts and prayers.
Mark Robert Bell
When I was ten days old, my grandfather flew out to San Marino, CA to meet me for the first time. He carried me wrapped in a blue blanket through the dust and crowds of the rose Bowl Parade grounds. He strolled me through the LA Zoo and through the Huntington Museum. I cannot, of course, remember this but in pictures I have seen his smiling face as he cared for his first grandchild. When I was three Bopa came to Atlanta and built my first sandbox. It is still there and in good shape. My sons, Max and Anselm, now play in it under the same tree. After a day in the sandbox, Bopa and I would play “Sleepy Bear” following dinner.
I always loved going to St. Louis and staying at my grandparents’ home. It was a special delight. Bopa would push me around in the wheelbarrow in summer. I would go sledding in his back yard at Christmas. But most of all I loved getting up really early when the rest of the family slept to spend time with Bopa as he drank his coffee and read the newspaper. We would talk-just me and my Bopa. We talked about birds, school, crossword puzzles, bridge, and books. We both loved books. I would go into his library upstairs, which had a fold out couch, where occasionally I was lucky enough to get to sleep. It was on one of those sleep overs in that library that I found a small red leather bound book on Hinduism. This book awakened my interest in other religions and culminated in my completion of a doctorate in religion at Oxford and the publishing of my own red book which subsequently sat in Bopa’s library in a fitting piece of literary symmetry.
Twenty two years later Bopa returned to California with the rest of the family for my Stanford graduation. Education was always so important to my grandfather. While I was studying in England he wrote me many lovely emails and letters. He encouraged me to stay in school as long as I could, and I did, completing an undergraduate, masters and doctorate before entering the less-pleasant real world. At that time my life became busier and less contemplative, but I was able to see Bopa occasionally on business trips that brought me through St. Louis. Things became far busier still with the arrival of the twins. I remember when we took my twin sons to see Bopa, who was pained by how much his wife, my grandmother, would have relished the symmetry of life-- that I too had twins as she and my grandfather had. Now that those twins are talking and obsessed with Winnie The Pooh, I think of Bopa almost daily, since in many ways his gentleness and proclivity for taking afternoon naps made him something of the pooh bear of the Moffitt family.
Since leaving graduate school and having children I have myself been through many revolutions, all of which my grandfather supported. I now find myself teaching in a professional school late on weeknights, standing in front of a classroom of eager students, gesturing wildly to keep their attention. As Bopa looks down on me in that classroom, or when I am pushing my pooh-clutching twins in a wheelbarrow, I think he knows that he is always with me, and that I, and the world around me are better for it. He will be missed always and forgotten never.
Bianca Camac Bell
I first met Bill on a visit to St Louis when Mark Robert and I were still courting. My first thought on meeting him was that I recognized the kind eyes that seemed to be a reflection outward of the kind soul within; the same eyes and quality that had so struck me about Mark Robert when we were teenagers. In the few visits we shared with Bill, both in St Louis and in Atlanta for our wedding, I was reminded each time that the warm eyes reflected what was true, that Bill was a kind, quiet soul who loved his family dearly.
After the twins were born, Mark Robert and I felt an even more special connection to Bill and Dolores, that of being the parents of twins. When we took Max and Anselm to visit their Great-Bopa, we were still in the throes of the sleep deprivation that only parenting twin infants can bring. Bopa's eyes shone and he clearly understood and smiled when he recalled the difficulties of teething. On that visit, I loved observing four generations of family enjoying a moment together as their lives overlapped. When the boys grow older, I look forward to showing them pictures of meeting their kind great-grandfather, a man who knew a thing or two about raising twin boys. I also hope to see those warm, kind eyes shining from their faces too.
Brendan Moffitt Bell
Becoming a first time father recently, I looked for role models and people I wanted to emulate. As I looked for lessons and actions that I wanted to pass down to Emily, my thoughts kept coming back to my Bopa. I remember with a warm heart the songs that he sang. Although, I rarely knew the songs, I was at home with each rendition. The only interruption to his song would come from the crack of a bat on Cardinals radio or the approach of his finches to the window feeder.
He would inevitably comment on the finches' beauty, grace, their eating habits and about the kindness of the birds taking turns. He seemed connected with each of the golden and purple finches and they seemed connected with him. Maybe it was the omnipresent food, or the chance to hear “I Hold Your Hand in Mine” coming through the window that brought them back each day. I personally think that it was his company and songs that brought them and his family around the kitchen table.
Maybe it’s because of these fond memories of my Bopa that often I find myself on the porch, watching my well-mannered golden finches feed, that I start singing Tom Lehar to Emily’s, and perhaps the birds', delight.
Candace Logan Bell
When I moved to Missouri to attend Saint Louis University, I found myself hundreds of miles away from my family. However, after getting to know Brendan and being introduced to his grandparents, I found the feeling of family even so far from home. I always enjoyed going to Moma and Bopa's home for a visit or to enjoy a delicious meal because they made me feel so welcome and were always open to sharing stories about their loving family. Now that Brendan and I have started a family of our own, memories of Bopa fill our home through the songs that Brendan sings to our daughter Emily each night, the time we spend listening to the birds on our front porch, and through our own evolving definition of a family that has been so wonderfully influenced by my St. Louis family away from home. I will always be grateful to Bopa and Moma for opening their home and their hearts to me and for the important role they played in making Brendan the loving husband and father that he is.Maureen Moffitt Wilt
I have so many fond memories of my Pop. I think of how he didn’t get mad when I painted the basement floor, insisted on holding my own hand, ran away from home, drove over the picket fence and almost hit a building the first time he let me drive, or played “Jimmy Mack” and Barbara Streisand tunes again and again. And I think of his patience setting up the movie camera with the huge lights for every special occasion knowing the resistance he’d meet in trying to get some decent footage.I think of Pop coaching my softball and basketball teams and not getting upset when we lost in basketball 44-2 and being proud when we won 2-0, and modeling how important a sense of humor is so when the radio announcer made fun of our 2-0 basketball victory it was easy to laugh at ourselves.
I think of Pop taking out a loan for our family vacation in Kentucky and I think of the fun we had, the memories, and the sacrifices he made to take us on all the other family vacations and care for his family of six, with cancelled car insurance and more than a few car accidents. I think of how he never wanted to trouble anyone to the point that he and my Mom took their trash and mine from Kansas City to St. Louis.
I think of Pop taking me bowling every year before his league started up and going to the Muny and out for club sandwiches afterwards. I remember him driving me down to Cape with all my belongings and surprising me on my birthday when he took me out to the New Orleans and we both got sick as can be afterwards. I think of us eating chocolate ice cream soup together and Pop’s baseball player sandwiches which I love to this day.
I think of his love for my sons and how proud he was of them and how much he loved the women they chose to marry, how much he loved all his children, disciples, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, how much he loved and was devoted to Mom, and how the most important thing in the world to him was that we all love one another.
I miss my gentle, giving, unassuming, humble, intelligent, wise, funny, loving Pop, but he will always be with me and I will always feel enormous gratitude that he was my dad and my sons’ Bopa.
Christopher Wilt
When I think of Bopa…
I think of traveling past a long white fence, navigating a roundabout, and walking along a small brick walkway with the knowledge that each step brought me closer to my grandparents.
I think of mornings in his kitchen and how I would drink milk poured from a glass jar (like him), eat a slice of coffee cake (just like him), and read the St. Louis Dispatch comics (as he read the sports page).
I think of him stealthily holding onto his bridge hand, manically holding onto Moma’s severed hand during family Christmas skits, and lovingly holding onto Moma’s perfectly attached hand as she sat in bed.
I think of watching Cardinal baseball games, tragic tales of baseball card collections pitched by great-grandmothers, and the joy I had when he gifted me his childhood baseball scrapbook.
I think of sitting in his chair to watch cartoons, sitting in his lap at his office, and sitting in his wheelbarrow as he pushed me down the driveway.
I think of how his stories brought laughter, how his companionship brought comfort, and how his love created a family.
But more than anything-I think of how lucky I am to have grown up with Bopa as my grandfather and how much I miss kissing the top of his wispy-haired head goodnight.
Courtney Harris
I think of how special it was to go visit Bopa, even if only for a few minutes, how he looked after his beloved wife when his own health was declining, and how deeply grateful I am for the family he raised with so much love. As I prepare to marry Christopher this summer, I realize the impact Bopa has made in his life and the many cherished memories he carries with him of Bopa. I know his legacy of love will live on in our new family.
Wes WiltI am so blessed to be able to call William Moffitt my Grandfather. He has taught me how to love, and laugh and I have nothing but great memories of him that I will take with me forever. He was the first person to take me to a St. Louis Cardinals game, to push me in a wheel barrow, and the first person I can remember ever playing cards with. I will always remember how patient he was with me while I attempted to read to him as a young child and eating coffee cake with him in the mornings. I look forward to continuing to love as he did and to carry on these traits with my own family in the future. Thank you Grandfather for helping me become the person I am today, I love you and always will.
Jennifer Kramer Wilt
One of my favorite memories of Bopa is when he shared the story of how he met Moma and fell in love. He smiled so big and remembered every detail like it was yesterday. In the short time that I have known Bopa it is very apparent that he loved big, I look forward to carrying that through Wes and my family.
William (Mike) A. Moffitt, III
William A. Moffitt, Junior, my father, was an extremely intelligent man, who loved to read. I remember going into the kitchen early in the morning and seeing him at the table working his crossword puzzles or finishing the Jumbos. On Saturday afternoons he would return home from the Public Library with five or six new books that he would read throughout the upcoming week. These books were in addition to the ones that arrived every month by mail from the Book Club he belonged to.
My father also valued formal education and his Catholic faith. Because of my parents’ willingness to sacrifice, each child was able to attend a Private Parochial Grade School, Private Catholic High School, and go to College (for a total of 72 years of formal education that they paid for).
My father was also a very patient man who was very slow to anger. There were many occasions when a typical father would have been furious with some of my minor mishaps (i.e., like the time I lit a Fourth of July fountain in my bedroom simply because my much younger, but wiser twin brother dared me to do so; or the time when I wrapped the Galaxy 500 (a car on loan to my father from one of his clients) around a concrete light pole on the highway when my parents were out of town). Although I know my father did not approve of my actions, he never yelled at me, got angry or lost his composure. He was more concerned about my physical well being instead of the damage to the bedroom or the car. Material things can be replaced. Loved ones can not.
Although my father was an only child, he truly loved being with his wife and children. I remember the time he took out a substantial loan in order that we could go out west on a two-week summer vacation. He bought special tires for the station wagon so that we would be safe on that trip. Needless to say, we ended up having at least two or three flat tires on that journey, but that trip with my family was so wonderful and I still have great memories of it even today.
Finally, it was always important for my father to tell us that he loved us. The last time Jacque and I traveled into St. Louis, my dad was essentially nonverbal. As we were saying goodbye to him, however, Jacque heard him say to us in a soft voice, “I love you very much.” Although we didn’t know it at that time, those would be the final words we would ever hear him say. I thank you dad for that lovely memory and that final gift. I love you too. Your son, WAM, IIIJacque Pfeifer Moffitt
I anxiously anticipated my first meeting with Bill and Dolores. I remember telling Mike that I wanted to impress them by bringing his father’s favorite candy. Mike clearly told me “chocolate covered cherries.” I religiously bought my father-in-law a box of chocolate covered cherries and presented them to him with love and pride. After 15 years of graciously receiving my so called gift, Bill accidentally slipped and told me that he didn’t particularly like chocolate covered cherries. I laughed and felt embarrassed at the same time. I realized then that Bill was the type of person who did not complain or force his will on others. I remember the staff in the nursing home saying, “Mr. Moffitt never complains.” Bill was an intellect and definitely knew what he preferred and what he needed. It just wasn’t his style to force that will on others. Bill was an accepting person and a great father-in-law.
Annalise Moffitt
My Bopa and I shared birthdays together. I remember that he let me blow out the candles, always letting me take the lead and enjoy the excitement of blowing out the candles for both of us. He also let me open my presents first. He did not rush me or wait with anticipation for his turn. No matter what silly thing I got him for his birthday or Christmas, he always said he liked the coffee mug, the painted ornament or endless decks of cards I got him. Bopa always made me feel special.
Kelsey Moffitt
My Bopa was made for comfort. I remember him always relaxed and without stress. Whether it was nights in front of the TV on his comfy blue chair or early breakfast meals before we headed back home to Kansas. I always vividly remember the way he looked at his kids and family. His eyes lighted up and his mouth curved into a huge grin. You could easily find the admiration, joy and love he felt towards his loved ones. People in the world like Bopa, remind us that love and family are two very precious gifts and we must learn to appreciate them while we are alive.
Terry Moffitt
Bill Moffitt meant so many things to many different people. To Dolores Finan, he was the love of her life, the devoted husband of almost 62 years. To his four children he was the hard working father, who, along with Dolores, put them through private grade school, private high school and college. He even put one through law school. To his eight grandchildren, he was the doting grandfather who utterly adored each and every one of them. To many, he was a friend, which friendship stemmed from the playground on the New Cathedral parking lot, the hallowed halls of Backer Memorial, the College of Arts and Science and the Law School of St. Louis University. His friends included the bridge and poker groups of both Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Anselm Parishes, and many members of the legal profession.
Dad meant so many different things to me. He was my personal chauffeur the summer of my sophomore year of high school, driving me to and from work at the MSD treatment plant on East Grand. He was again my chauffeur the summer I graduated from college, driving me Downtown so I could work at the Mansion House. Dad was my biggest sports fan-he attended every one of my C-Team and B-Team high school football games. I can think of only a few of my B-Team and varsity soccer games that he missed, which was no mean feat. You have to remember that, back in those days, high school soccer was played in the dead of winter and many a time, the only fans at my games were Dad, Mr. Zgraggen and Mr. Milford. I remember Dad wearing his fur Cossack hat with the flaps pulled down to keep his ears warm. Dad was frequently my bridge partner and I remember playing bridge with Dad, Mom, and either Ginnie Fowler or Jack Swanston in our tiny kitchen on Harden.
Dad was the inventor of baseball player sandwiches (buttered toast and spiced luncheon meat). He called them that because it was the only way he could get his four children to eat them. He was an avid sports fan-he loved the Billikens, the Jr. Bills, the Mizzou Tigers, and the baseball Cardinals. He especially enjoyed being a Big Red season ticket holder with his Good Counsel friends even though the football Cardinals almost always (except for the Cardiac Cards) toiled in mediocrity.
Dad was my boss, my law partner, and my mentor. Immediately after law school, I went to work for Dad at Cox, Moffitt and Cox. When Dallas Cox Sr. (the brother my father never had) died, Dad graciously asked me to become his partner. Over the next seven years, I never knew how much Dad sacrificed to keep that partnership afloat. During that time, Dad helped me acquire the experience I would later need for my current law practice.
Dad was a brilliant appellate attorney but very modest about his successes. When I was first out of law school, the office won the first three appellate cases I briefed for Dallas Cox, Jr. and I was pretty full of myself. Dallas Sr. put me in my place when he told me I should consider myself great if I could beat Bill Moffitt’s streak of fifteen appellate wins in a row. (I lost my very next appeal.) Dad was known as the consummate lawyer’s lawyer, an appellation I have tried to emulate.
It is a sad fate that Dad’s three great-grandchildren will never get to know him personally. The twins, Anselm and Max, Bill only saw once in person. He only saw Emily Grace in pictures. These three (and future great-grandchildren), will never experience the joy of being pushed around by Bill in his wheelbarrow or have their pictures taken with him at his office. They will be dependent upon the memories of their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles in order to know of the gentleness, the sweetness and the kindness of the man their parents all called Bopa.
Dad-I am most proud to call you friend. You brought special meaning to all of our lives. We will miss you but we will never forget you.
Diane Moffitt
Bill’s love and support of his family was constant and unwavering. He loved us with a gracious warmth and unreserved sentimentality. I will never forget the day that his first born (Pam) left for California. Bill tried valiantly to hold in his emotions, but eventually and unashamedly he dissolved into tears when the last goodbye and hug were finally given.
Bill was indeed a man of his time and upbringing. It makes me laugh to this day how ill-equipped he was to master the most elementary of household duties. My favorite story was when Dolores went to stay with Maureen after surgery. Bill found he was running out of underwear. His solution, go out and buy enough to last until Dolores got home! If you ran out of food, there was always cereal.How lucky Bill was to have married and lived with the love of his life for so many years. Dolores and Bill were a truly devoted couple who weathered the challenges of life with determination and a sense of humor. Tradition at Christmas with all of our families was the most special time of all. Bounded by love and surrounded by family, our cherished memories of these years will glow in our hearts for a lifetime.
Bill, even though I am an outlaw, I will always love and miss you!
Megan Moffitt
Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I had the best Grandparents: Grandparents who supported me by attending my recitals, concerts, sports games, and ceremonies; Grandparents who dedicated time to teaching me various life lessons; Grandparents who loved to spoil me rotten. Bopa and Moma were the best Grandparents a kid could ask for.
Some of my best childhood memories are from the times I spent at their house. During our visits, Moma would teach me how to garden and sew, while Bopa would play board games with me and teach me about collecting coins. He was always patient and kind.
Over the holidays, our family would gather at Moma and Bopa’s house for the annual Moffitt family Christmas extravaganza, a gathering in which we would all spend time together catching up and sharing laughs over family skits, cards, and wonderful meals. It was during those times when I really got to know my grandfather. I could get a glimpse of his humorous side when he would reprise his role each year in the “I hold-your-hand-in-mine” skit. I learned of his brilliant mind and tactical skills during the card game of bridge. I also learned I wasn’t the only one who favored Moma’s famous mashed potatoes over the rest of the meal.
In his later years, I enjoyed our visits at Mari de Villa. We would talk about work, life, family, and friends while enjoying our favorite shakes from Steak ‘n Shake and watching the Cardinals play. Bopa was truly a wonderful grandfather and friend, and I will miss his company dearly.
Bopa-you taught us how to love and care for each other and everyone around us. Thank you for that lesson, and all the other great things you taught me. I love you!
Michael Moffitt
I am blessed as a grandson to be the last in line left to carry on the Moffitt name. Bopa always made me proud of my roots, and was the reason I got into two of my biggest hobbies, collecting coins and tracing our family’s history. I also have a distinct mental note to purchase a wheelbarrow when I eventually get married...some years down the line of course. That way I can push my own children, and hopefully theirs around in it just like my Bopa did with me. Family meant everything to Moma and Bopa. Just thinking about it floods my thoughts with emotions and memories of the times that I got to spend with them. Their location close to my home made it convenient for me to visit them, even after they moved out of their house, and allowed me the opportunity to regularly share stories with them about what was going on in my life. My education was very important to Bopa. He frequently asked what classes I took and how I performed in them. Such constant inquiries reminded me to push myself harder to succeed, so I would not be embarrassed when I provided answers to his questions. Additionally, we Moffitts have a great SLUH tradition that I hope, if destiny permits, to carry on.
A specific event shared with the world’s best grandfather remains as one of the most profound days of my life--being passed on the Mormon Temple key from Bopa. During that moment, Bopa was choked up and I did not know how to react to such strong sentiments. Until that day, I had never experienced Bopa on that level. I now realize how important it was to him and how the key truly represents the Moffitt family. Bopa opened gateways for his children, son-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, even if they don’t know it yet. The luck of the Irish will always be with us, in unison with love. I am lucky to have been given so much love by two wonderful grandparents. Bopa is the reason I am a proud Moffitt. I love and miss him dearly.
Bill married Dolores Finan, daughter of Thomas Joseph Finan and Johanna Amanda Berkley, on 27 Apr 1946 in St. Louis, , Missouri, USA. Dolores was born on 8 Aug 1922 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was christened in 1922 in St. Matthew's, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. She died on 4 Mar 2008 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Dolores Finan Moffitt
Moffitt, Dolores Finan Fortified with the Sacraments of Holy Mother Church on Tuesday, March 4, 2008. Beloved wife of William A. Moffitt, Jr.; loving mother of Patricia 'Pam' Bell (Mark), Maureen Wilt, William 'Mike' Moffitt (Jacque Pfeifer), Terry Moffitt (Diane Mueller); proud grandmother of Mark Robert Bell (Bianca), Brendan Moffitt Bell (Candace), John Christopher Wilt, II, Robert Westley Finan Wilt, Megan Moffitt, Michael Moffitt, Kelsey Moffitt, Annalise Moffitt. Dolores was preceded in death by her parents Thomas J. Finan Sr. and Mae Finan (nee Berkley) and her beloved brother, Thomas J. Finan, Jr. Dear sister of Bunny (Tom) Herrmann, sister-in-law of Mary Ellen (Tom) Finan, aunt, cousin, friend and godmother. She was devoted to her husband and family. When her children were older, Dolores returned to work in finance at Rosary High School and the Ladue School District. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, and friend. She loved to play cards, particularly bridge, and she loved to garden. Dolores was a nurturer in the truest sense. Dolores donated her body to St. Louis University Medical School. Services: A Memorial Mass to celebrate her life will be held on Monday, March 24, 2008, 10:00 a.m., at St. Anslem Catholic Church (Priory), 530 South Mason Road. The Family will receive friends following the service at St. Anslem's Parish House. In lieu of flowers, contributions to the charity of your choice appreciated.
Published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 3/12/2008 - 3/20/2008.Pam Moffitt Bell
Dolores Finan Moffitt, my mother, was always a nurturer.
I cannot remember a time when there wasn't some kind of a plant in the house. From the early childhood peach trees that grew from tiny peach stones sprouted by my Grandfather Finan’s trash bin, grown and canned by Mom, Aunt Bib and Ginny every year on Harden Drive, to her beautiful garden on Chamblee Lane, Mom loved to grow and care for living things.
She passed her love and fascination of growing plants on to her children, but especially on to her grandchildren. Going through Moma’s garden with her-- oohing and talking over each new bud was a special delight and a cherished adventure. There was always time to look for four leaf clovers in the lawn and amazingly, most of the time they found them-Irish Luck. There was always an interesting insect, a new bird or a weed to pull and take to the creek. The old white glider was a special garden observation point where she encouraged her young grandchildren to be aware of wonder.
Dolores was an optimistic.
My father was never going to World War II (He served 44 months.)
Her back and leg were always getting better.
Things would always be better in the morning.
Dolores was a trooper
She continued on is spite of chronic pain and continued setbacks. She suffered for years without complaint.
Dolores was a character, a card and a real card player.
She loved to play cards: solitaire, poker, hearts, war and Uno with the grandchildren. She loved to play bridge with her friends. She loved to make a good bridge hand. She loved to win and usually did. She and Dad taught their grandchildren to play bridge. She had a competitive spirit and taught her grandchildren to take risk-but use their heads. During Christmas and summer family gatherings, two tables of bridge were the norm in the family room with three generations playing together.
She was a seamstress
She spent hours sewing for us when she probably would have liked to be doing anything else.
She felt pressure to get four Easter outfits made for her four children, the bridesmaids dresses, the prom gowns, the Christmas dresses, the Halloween costumes. She whipped these up and more on her sewing machine. She made doll clothes, beanie baby sleeping bags, Christmas tree skirts and our most prized family heirloom Christmas quilts. She has knitted everyone an afghan; naps wouldn't be the same without those comfy afghans
Mom/Moma was a cookie baker.
My favorite was pink Christmas cookie cutter wreaths. Others would choose “Nighty Nites,” but probably the all around favorite was her chocolate chip cookies-and her secret ingredient that Brendan always recognized-LOVE.
“Love One Another” was her wish for her family. There was a plaque up in our home with that statement and reminder of her wish for us all.
Dolores was a dancer.
She loved to dance, from early vaudeville childhood plays that her mother, Mae Finan, produced and directed, to dancing with my father. Her eyes would sparkle and her feet would tap. I was always envious because I inherited two left feet, but when I saw the joy she and my Dad displayed when dancing, I was filled with delight.
She was my best friend, example, mentor, model, strength and confident.
Mother’s suffering and chronic pain are now over. She is at rest and peace. To go without her support seems most challenging, but we celebrate her life and her spirit, for we know that she is up there with those bright shining Irish eyes, looking down on us, supporting us with her positive thoughts and saying the two things both our parents tried to instill in us-
“Always stay close and love one another."
This we shall try to do and we thank you, Mother, for giving us life and the nurturing love and concern to live that life.Mark Bell
I have known Dolores for 43 years, longer than I have known my own mother. She was an extraordinary woman, with a competitive spirit, who accomplished with excellence whatever she undertook.
In another time she could have been our first woman president.
Mark Robert BellGrandparents are in a very interesting position. They have a unique angle on educating youth. My Grandmother taught me to be practical and true to myself and the importance of being a gentleman. She taught me how to recognize a good joke and when not to point out a bad one.
Moma was unconditional in her love and encouragement. As a toddler, despite my fears, she encouraged me to learn to swim in our big pool. She encouraged me to jump off the diving board when 10 feet down looked like the end of the earth. She encouraged me to play soccer when Alex and I were 3 and I was nervous. When I went off to Stanford and Oxford, England to study, she encouraged me to work hard but to live a balanced life. She taught me who I was literally. In fact, she not only encouraged me but arranged for me to meet and stay with our long-lost Finan cousins in Sligo Ireland. I stood in front of my great, great, great grandfather Finan's birth home and shoot skeet with my Irish cousins--all due to my grandmother.
I am her 1st grandson and we are alike in many ways. Now like Dolores and Bill/ Moma and Bopa, Bianca and I are expecting twins, too!
I will try always to follow the advice she gave when she learned of the twins,
namely that, "All they need is lots of love." I am sure in the next few months --
and years to come I will remember her educating and encouraging me.
Most of all I will remember her love.Brendan Bell
My Moma was always a sage, who provided practical old school, time tested advice.
I remember some key moments when I was young including: the secret to making her famous chocolate cookies, it takes patience and a keen eye to find four leaf clovers, the importance of being Irish and through dedication and hard work all these and much more were possible.
When I was older and going through a difficult time, Moma's looked at me and said all that was needed, " Brendan, life is for the living." These simple words have had a profound impact on my life and have been a mantra ever since. She understood the importance of using the memory of a lost loved one in a positive and active way, to honor their memory by living and loving life.
I leave you with words often spoken by my beloved Moma when I left her: "I pray for your health and that you hold good cards."
Maureen Wilt
I don't know of any other Mom who was able to give her daughter the twin brothers she requested, even when the doctors didn't know she was carrying twins until five hours before their birth. I remember getting on my knees at night beside the bed with Mom where I frequently prayed that my twin brothers not grow up to be bank robbers. And I remember seeing Mom praying on her knees at night when she came up to stay with me after my surgery (though she was very ill herself) when I had two boys of my own.
I remember Mom getting such a kick out of my sons and Wes's prayer, "And, God, with the mosquitoes I think you made a mistake" and getting a kick out of Christopher's nice/mean guy imaginary friend. I remember her staining the rocking chair for Chris and Wes, giving Christopher his "Teddy" that still adorns his desk at school, the boys’ haircuts, our quilts, cookies, and looking for four leaf clovers together.
I don't know of many mothers who would allow a neighborhood wedding at their house and give permission for a 5-year-old daughter to be married by a 7-year-old sister/priest, or a Mom who would provide all the refreshments for the wedding reception, including the Cheez-its. And I know that my Mom was the best cook and nobody could top her chicken noodle soup or peanut butter sandwiches I bragged about (or her almond Christmas cookies, banana cream pie, grandma's rolls, fudge pie or ham and olive baked sandwiches, to name a few).
I appreciate all the sacrifices Mom made for us when she went without so we could have more. All the (almost perpetual) times she gave up candy so that her prayers would be answered for some family member. I remember with fondness the gorgeous prom dresses, dresses and coats she made for me. There was never any doubt that we were most important in her lives. I remember some years back when we interviewed Mom and Pop in different rooms for the grandparent books. The last question we asked was "What would you want your progeny to remember most of all?" Mom and Pop both answered "Love One Another." Mom lived her life teaching us that message and I know without a doubt that love is the most powerful force in the world and lasts forever. Mom's love will be with us forever and ever (and then some) and has made all the difference.Christopher Wilt
When I think of Moma, I think of how much she gave:
She gave me chocolate-chip cookies, hash browns, and eggs from her oven.
She gave me blankets, quilts, and stockings created from her own hand.
She gave me Cheez-its, coffee cake, and pumpkin pie (some slices were better than others) from her kitchen.
She gave me basil, strawberries, and mint from her garden.
She gave me four-leaf clovers, pads of paper, and tic-tacs from whatever magical place Moma kept such amazing treasures.
She gave me knowledge about shuffling, counting, and bidding from her card-player brain.
She gave me deep wisdom, stern lectures, and loving advice from her heart.
But most of all--Moma gave me my family- one that she created, mended, and molded from love.Wes Wilt
Rudy Giuliani said it best when asked about grandparents “What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies.”
My Moma always knew how to make me feel loved. Her love was displayed in many ways, whether it was a wink from across the room or her support for her grandchildren as they starred in the beloved Christmas play every year. Her love was genuine and unconditional and will live with me forever. I am so blessed to have inherited these traits that make me who I am today. Thank you for leading by example and showing me what family is all about. I love you Moma and thank you for the chocolate chip cookies.Mike Moffitt
My memories of my mom span over half a century. With her passing, simple memories now take on a new and special meaning. I remember when I was 10 or 11 years old, picking peppermint from our backyard garden and drinking ice tea with my Mom. During family vacations we would walk the beaches and collect rocks that she would later use to decorate her flower and rose gardens.
My mom was my greatest advocate and biggest supporter. When I became frustrated and wanted to give up, my Mom would simply smile and reassure me that I could accomplish the task at hand. She was right. I did learn to tie my shoes. I did grow tall enough to touch the top of the refrigerator. In elementary school, I struggled with learning. My mom spoke with the school officials and helped me get the resources I needed to be successful. She was my first Tutor. With her help, I was able to eventually graduate and even go on to earn a doctorate degree. My Mom always believed in me, and helped me to believe in myself.
My mother’s faith was very important to her. When we went on vacations, my parents made sure we went to mass on Sunday. My parents sacrificed in order for all four of their children to receive private Catholic Education. Every time I see a rosary, I will think of my mother. I remember on many occasions coming in to visit and finding my mother lying on the living room couch. She frequently would “stretch out” on the couch in order to deal with her chronic pain. Even though she might be asleep, she would be holding a Rosary in her hands. In fact, you could find Rosaries throughout our home, either by the night stand by her bed, the coffee table near the couch or in the kitchen.
When I visited my mother for the last time, she was basically uncommunicative. I decided to say a Rosary with her. Although she seemed unresponsive earlier in the day, she repeated “The Hail Mary” each time it was prayed. I believe it was her faith that helped her through the last trying years, never complaining or feeling sorry for herself, but offering up her suffering for others that she loved.
I will truly miss my mother but I know she is now happy in Heaven with her parents, brother, sister and friends. I hope that in the years to come, I can live a life that she would be proud of, not only as a son and a brother, but as a husband, a father and friend as well. Mom, thank you for all the important life lessons you modeled for me over the years. Love, MikeJacque Pfeifer Moffitt
Dolores was my mother-in-law. She was a lot of fun to talk to and listen to. She used to smoke cigarettes at the kitchen table and tell me stories of her life--the memories of her family of origin and how she wished that I could have known her brother. She told me about Mike and his siblings growing up and about their family vacations. She talked about her job and her special friends at work. I felt like I intimately knew all the players in Dolores’s life even if I had never met them.
Dolores was a woman that I would have chosen as a friend. She was a woman who wore shorts into her 60's. She drove cars fast and wild. She looked up facts in the encyclopedia or dictionary in order to settle an argument. She could recount each play of the cards laid down by all four hands. Dolores always wore her hair short and it was always dark and her nails and lips were always bright. She liked fashion and always dressed well. She taught me beauty secrets like keeping lipstick and nail polish in the refrigerator.
Dolores was a role model as a wife. I admired her dedication to the vocation of marriage. Dolores literally anticipated Bill’s needs, gladly answered them and always encouraged and respected him. Dolores always thanked Bill for making coffee. She asked him how he liked his food and if he slept well. Bill always praised Dolores for her cooking and entertaining skills. Mike told me that his parents never had a fight, not one! One time we played Pictionary and Dolores and Bill were on the same team. The category was animals. Bill drew one straight line and Dolores immediately answered with the correct animal. They had telepathy. Their marriage was unbeatable.
Dolores was a faith filled and accepting person. She had abundant energy even though her chronic pain was a heavy cross to bear. She coped in ways that have been researched by health professionals and theologians for centuries. She distracted her mind with the joys of simple things like birds and the colors and smells of flowers. She did what she could like sit and play cards, sew for awhile, read and lose herself in a plot, she took frequent breaks to “stretch out” and she used her higher power to comfort her when she could not bear the pain alone.
The strength of her determination, the sophistication of her daily living, and the inheritance of her faith has been left for all her family to remember. There is no greater gift that a wife, mother, and grandmother could ever give. Thank you Dolores for having such great purpose.Kelsey Moffitt
Moma and I had a lot of “first” experiences. I was the first daughter of her first son. She gave me my first baby blanket. I carried that until I was 10 and she promised to make it into a handkerchief for my wedding. She gave me my first best-friend, “Baby-doll,” who is still with me today. She threw me my first birthday party at her house.
Moma liked that I had an Irish name. She always thought my hair had a red-tint to it. We had matching Irish Girl shirts and the same thin dancer legs. She measured our heights at every visit. I eventually grew taller than her but I never out-grew my Moma and all her special ways. Moma is the first person I have loved that is now passed away. I hope she will be the first angel to watch over me until we meet in Heaven.Annalise Moffitt
Moma made me feel like a Princess. She sewed me a pink and white Princess dress when I was little. I wore that dress everyday during our visit and on the way home. I felt like a Princess with her. She gave me crackers in a special bowl and poured me milk from a glass jar which I ate on a little black stool. She let me have my own room when I visited. Moma displayed my art work and my pictures. She held my face with two hands when she kissed me. Whenever we left their house she gave me “gas money” for the ride home. Moma called me “Pumpkin.” Even when I saw her for the last time, when she wasn’t feeling well at all, she said, “Hi, Pumpkin.” I love you Moma and I miss you very much.
Terry Moffitt
My Mom and Dad put four children through college and none of them grew up to be bank robbers--yet! Mom shared in the joy of eight grandchildren who loved their Moma in a way that words will never adequately convey. Mother/Dolores/Moma was there for us in the best of times and the worst of time. Throughout it all Mom always maintained her sense of humor. Her gift of laughter is the legacy that will live on from one generation to next.
Diane MoffittDolores was the best mother-in-law a person could hope for. Whenever my friends would talk about family issues with in-laws, I would proudly tell them about my mother-in-law and friend. Dolores was always there for me, and I learned so much from her, including how to entertain and play the intricate game of bridge with card players extraordinaire Dolores, Bill. and Terry. Even after playing thirty years with the lucky but bridge challenged, their patience with me and encouragement never wavered, despite my never ending question--”What are you asking me?”
The years of laughter, love, and wonderful memories shared with Dolores, will always be a vivid reminder of a life well lived and well loved.Megan Moffitt
I am truly blessed to have had such a wonderful grandmother. In reflecting on the times I have spent with her, I remember all the little things that made our relationship so special. I will always remember going to her house as a little girl. She always had something to teach me. Whether it was how to sew, play cards, or how to garden, she always made the visit fun and interesting.
I will always remember family dinners at her house. No matter the occasion, she always made potatoes especially for me because they were my favorite. I will never forget how much she loved and supported me. She always attended my recitals, concerts, sports, and ceremonies. Just knowing how much she cared about me has always motivated me to want to achieve more in life. I will never forget our conversations over Cheez-its and lettuce with peanut butter. It did not matter what the conversation was about, she was always interested in what I had to say. I will never forget all that I have learned from her. She taught me so much about life, love, and friendships. I could never imagine what life would have been like without her, and I will always cherish the time we spent together.Michael Moffitt
Moma taught me the saying “It must be the luck of the Irish”. When I used to visit during my years as a bleached blond, impressionable, curious boy, Moma would take me out into the front yard to go hunting for the illusive four leaf clover. At first, I did not believe they truly existed except in Lucky Charms cereal, but Moma proved me wrong. After countless hours searching, I eventually found one. Moma then carefully wrapped the clover in wax paper, stuck it in between the pages of a book to press it, and told me to find a safe place to keep it. Years later, while cleaning out my old bedroom, I came across the four leaf clover, its green color remaining intact.
I like to think that this clover has truly brought the “Luck of the Irish” into my life. Not only have I found a one carat diamond ring next to a trash can, won BigMac Land tickets from the radio, a Game Cube from school, and Erin the prized Irish themed Beanie Baby, but I have been blessed with a great family that has given me a lifetime of cherished memories. I miss you Moma, and the great influence you had on me. To me, not even a four leaf clover was as lucky as having you as my grandmother.******************************
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
When Irish eyes are smiling Sure 'tis like a morn in spring. In the lilt of Irish laughter You can hear the angels sing. When Irish hearts are happy All the world seems bright and gay. And when Irish eyes are smiling Sure they steal your heart away. When Irish hearts are happy All the world seems bright and gay. And when Irish eyes are smiling Sure they steal your heart away.
They had the following children.
+ 327 F i Patrica Anne "Pam" Moffitt. + 328 F ii Maureen Mary Moffitt. + 329 M iii William Albert Moffitt III. + 330 M iv Terrence Finan "Terry" Moffitt.
215. "Earl" Joseph Raymond "Earl" Brady (Joseph Terence , John , Bridget , James , ) was born on 14 Aug 1914 in Cottonwood, Hill, Montana, USA. He died on 10 May 1996 in Chinook, Blaine, Montana, USA.
Earl Brady and his brother visited at the Claude Springer home last Sunday afternoon. Havre Daily News Promoter, June 8, 1927.
COTTONWOOD
Special to The Daily News
A party in the honor of Missus Dorothy Staples and Elizabeth Rusu at the Wm. Staples home Saturday night. The guest present were Mr. and Mrs. E. McDonald, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Springer, Mr. and Mrs. John Staples and family, Miss Buelah Springer, Vurl Springer, George, Roy, and Ac Moore, Bobby Wharton, Erwin Malsam, Earl and Ted Brady, and John Springer. Dancing and card playing were the feature of the evening. Lunch was served at midnight. Havre Daily News Promoter, January 8, 1929.Earl Brady was operated on Sunday evening at the Kennedy Deaconess hospital. Havre Daily News Promoter, March 4, 1929.
Joe Brady and his sons Earl, Ted and James were visitors in Havre last Sunday. Havre Daily News Promoter, May 10, 1929.
Earl Brady spent Saturday in Havre. Havre Daily News Promoter, May 11, 1930.
School examinations for the seventh and eight grades were given at Cottonwood school No. 1 Thursday and Friday. The children who took the examinations were Marion Malsam, Cleo Larsen, Mildred Vaughn, Anna Pruys, Roselia Marsden, Barbara Keller, Eve Velk, Viola Mueller, Virginia Johnson, John Parsons, Glen Springer, Earl Brady, Erwin Garding, Raymond Staples, Erling Peterson, Anton Van Risswick, Clarence Staples, Ted Brady, Gerald Staples, Virgil Wilkins, Willie Prups, and Everett Converse. Havre Daily News Promoter, May 22, 1930.
LARGE CLASS CONFIRMED AT ST. JUDE'S CHURCH SUNDAY
St. Jude Thaddeus church on Thursday was the scene of the largest confirmation class in the history of the parish. One hundred sixty three candidates received from the hands of Archbishop Lenihan, the Sacrament of Confirmation. The ceremony was preceded by an examination of the candidates by the Archbishop. Questions were asked from the Catechism of Christian Doctrine. The little book is the summary of the Distrine of the Catholic church. It contains principally what is taught in the Bible. It is the Bible simplified and classified, so as to be made clear and easy, even to the youngest children.
After the examination the Archbishop gave a talkt o the congregation on the nature and effects of this Sacrament and the importance of its reception. Following the talk the Sacrament was conferred.
This Sacrament is a very ancient rite in the Catholic church. I has been conferred from the earliest ages on the members of the church. It has always been conferred by a Bishop, exclusively, except in remote regions where a Bishop was not stationed. In these places a Priest is sometimes empowered by the Pope to confer the Sacrament. It consists of a prayer invoking the aid of the Holy Spirit as the Bishop extends his hands over those who are to be confirmed. The the forehead of each candidate is anointed by the Bishop in the form of a cross with a mixture of holy oil and balm, which is previously consecrated on Holy Thursday by the Bishop.
The following is a list of those who were confirmed:
...Earl Brady, Louise Pruys, Tarnce Brady...Havre Daily News Promoter, June 7, 1930.
Earl married Bessie Dorine Perkins, daughter of David Martin Perkins Sr. and Laura Emeline Allen, on 19 Sep 1935 in Moab, Grand, Utah, USA. Bessie was born on 31 Jul 1916 in Hazelton, , Idaho, USA. She died on 11 Sep 2001 in Chinook, Blaine, Montana, USA.
BESSIE BRADY, Obituary
By HDN Staff
CHINOOK — Bessie D. Brady, 85, Chinook, died Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, at a Havre care center of natural causes. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday in Edwards Funeral Home Chapel, with burial following in Kuper Memorial Cemetery. Brady was born July 13, 1916, in Hazel, Idaho, to David and Laura (Allen) Perkins. She attended school at Moab, Utah.
On Sept. 20, 1935, she married Earl Brady in Moab, Utah. They farmed east of Havre until their retirement in 1972. They moved
to Bigfork and returned to Chinook in 1983.
Brady was a member of the Mormon Ladies Relief Society and Lohman Loyal Lites.
She enjoyed taking her grandchildren fishing, playing pinochle, sewing, quilting, gardening and preparing meals for family and friends.
Brady was preceded in death by her husband, Earl Brady, in 1996; an infant son; five brothers, and three sisters.
Survivors include her daughter, Linda Peterson of East Helena; sons, David Brady of Bonduel, Wis., Raymond Brady of Havre, John Brady of Big Piney, Wyo.; sister, Joy Borcherdt of Moab, Utah; brothers, Allen, Clyde and Tom Perkins, all of Toole, Utah; 12 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to the Shriners' Children's Hospital or to one's choice.
Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook.
Copyright © 2005 Havre Daily News
They had the following children.
331 M i Earl Raymond Brady was born on 4 Jun 1938 in Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. He died on 4 Jun 1938 in Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. + 332 M ii David Robert Brady. + 333 M iii Raymond Lamar Brady. + 334 M iv John Russell Brady. + 335 F v Linda Marie Brady.
216. Terrance Francis "Ted" Brady (Joseph Terence , John , Bridget , James , ) was born on 19 Mar 1917 in Cottonwood, Hill, Montana, USA. He died on 12 Jul 2003 in Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Havre, Hill, Montana, USA.
COTTONWOOD
Special to The Daily News
A party in the honor of Missus Dorothy Staples and Elizabeth Rusu at the Wm. Staples home Saturday night. The guest present were Mr. and Mrs. E. McDonald, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Springer, Mr. and Mrs. John Staples and family, Miss Buelah Springer, Vurl Springer, George, Roy, and Ac Moore, Bobby Wharton, Erwin Malsam, Earl and Ted Brady, and John Springer. Dancing and card playing were the feature of the evening. Lunch was served at midnight. Havre Daily News Promoter, January 8, 1929.Joe Brady and his sons Earl, Ted and James were visitors in Havre last Sunday. Havre Daily News Promoter, May 10, 1929.
School examinations for the seventh and eight grades were given at Cottonwood school No. 1 Thursday and Friday. The children who took the examinations were Marion Malsam, Cleo Larsen, Mildred Vaughn, Anna Pruys, Roselia Marsden, Barbara Keller, Eve Velk, Viola Mueller, Virginia Johnson, John Parsons, Glen Springer, Earl Brady, Erwin Garding, Raymond Staples, Erling Peterson, Anton Van Risswick, Clarence Staples, Ted Brady, Gerald Staples, Virgil Wilkins, Willie Prups, and Everett Converse. Havre Daily News Promoter, May 22, 1930.
LARGE CLASS CONFIRMED AT ST. JUDE'S CHURCH SUNDAY
St. Jude Thaddeus church on Thursday was the scene of the largest confirmation class in the history of the parish. One hundred sixty three candidates received from the hands of Archbishop Lenihan, the Sacrament of Confirmation. The ceremony was preceded by an examination of the candidates by the Archbishop. Questions were asked from the Catechism of Christian Doctrine. The little book is the summary of the Distrine of the Catholic church. It contains principally what is taught in the Bible. It is the Bible simplified and classified, so as to be made clear and easy, even to the youngest children.
After the examination the Archbishop gave a talkt o the congregation on the nature and effects of this Sacrament and the importance of its reception. Following the talk the Sacrament was conferred.
This Sacrament is a very ancient rite in the Catholic church. I has been conferred from the earliest ages on the members of the church. It has always been conferred by a Bishop, exclusively, except in remote regions where a Bishop was not stationed. In these places a Priest is sometimes empowered by the Pope to confer the Sacrament. It consists of a prayer invoking the aid of the Holy Spirit as the Bishop extends his hands over those who are to be confirmed. The the forehead of each candidate is anointed by the Bishop in the form of a cross with a mixture of holy oil and balm, which is previously consecrated on Holy Thursday by the Bishop.
The following is a list of those who were confirmed:
...Earl Brady, Louise Pruys, Tarnce Brady...Havre Daily News Promoter, June 7, 1930.Terrance "Ted" Brady, 86, died Saturday, July 12, 2003, at a Havre care center of natural causes.
A prayer vigil will be 7 p.m. Thursday at the Holland and Bonine Funeral Chapel. A funeral Mass will be 2 p.m. Friday at the St. Jude Catholic Church with
the Rev. Robert D. Grosch officiating. Burial will follow at the Calvary Cemetery in Havre. A fellowship will be held at the St. Jude Parish Center immediately after the graveside services.
Ted was born March 19, 1917, to Joseph and Elizabeth (Britton) Brady in Cottonwood.
In 1938 he married Mary McKernan in Havre. He worked as a conductor on the Burlington Northern Railroad for 37 years and retired in 1982.
He was a loving, caring husband and father and loved to help others. His hobbies included fishing, hunting and carpentry.
He was preceded in death by his parents, three sisters, two brothers, daughter, Cathy Ann, and a son-in-law.
Survivors include his wife, Mary of Havre; children, Doris Suek of Portland, Ore.; Terry (Roberta) of Missoula, Jim (Mary) of Malta, Jack (Linda) of Havre, Marilyn and the late Claude Miner of Big Sandy, Tom of Havre, Annmarie (Randy) Robinson of Havre, and Patty (Martin) Alley of Joplin; 13 grandchildren; six great grandchildren; and brother, Bill Brady of Hamilton.
Memorials in Ted's honor may be made to the Gift of Life P.O. Box 7008 Great Falls, MT 59406-7008 or to the St. Jude Parish Center 624 Fourth St., Havre, MT 59501.
Services and arrangements are under the direction of Holland and Bonine Funeral Home.
Copyright © 2005 Havre Daily News
Ted married Mary Genevive McKernan, daughter of Michael McKernan and Hannah Friel, on 23 Aug 1939 in Chinook, Blaine, Montana, USA. Mary was born on 3 Nov 1919 in Box Elder, Hill, Montana, USA. She died on 26 Jul 2009 in Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. She was buried on 30 Jul 2009 in Calvary Cemetery, Havre, Hill, Montana, USA.
"Mary G. Brady obituary
Mary G. Brady, 89, died Sunday July 26, 2009, at Northern Montana Hospital of natural causes.
Her prayer vigil service will be 7 p.m. Wednesday July 29, 2009, with her funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 30, 2009, at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church with Father Dale officiating. Burial will follow at the Calvary section of the Highland Cemetery in Havre. Memorial contributions in Mary’s honor may be made to St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church. Her grandson Brendan Brady suffers from ALS, so contributions may be made to the fight against ALS, c/o Bear Paw Credit Union, Havre, MT 59501 or to a memorial of one’s choice. A fellowship luncheon will be held at St. Jude Parish Center immediately after services at the graveside. Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home. Mary was born Nov. 3, 1919, in Box Elder, Mont., one of five children born to Michael and Hannah (Friel) McKernan. She was raised on the family farm and graduated from Box Elder High School. She married Terrance “Ted” Brady in 1938 in Havre. To this union nine children were born. Mary was a nurturer who loved her family, raising her children and helping others. She was a hard worker and worked alongside her husband Ted on all of his projects. Mary was an excellent cook, and always had a warm meal for anyone. She worked Hill County elections for many years and in her spare time liked crocheting. She was an active member of St. Jude parish, PCCW and the Altar Society. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Terrance Brady on July 12, 2003; a daughter, Cathy Brady; a brother, Michael McKernan; and son-in-law, Claude Miner. She is survived by her children, Doris Suek of Portland, Ore., Terry (Roberta) Brady of Missoula, Mont., Jim (Mary) Brady of Malta, Mont., Jack (Linda) Brady of Havre, Mont., Marilyn Miner of Big Sandy, Mont., Tom (Paula) Brady of Havre, Mont., Annmarie (Randy) Robinson of Big Sandy, Mont., and Patty (Martin) Alley of Joplin, Mont.; sisters, Nora Nelson of Havre, Mont., Patricia Warhank of Rudyard, Mont., and Kay (Adam) Schweitzer of Helena, Mont.; grandchildren, Brad (Leah) and Ted Suek, Cathy (Wes) Finch and Ty (Lori) Brady, Michael (Christina) Brady, Shannon, Patrick, and Matthew Brady, Jeramie and Scott (Kari) Robinson, Amanda (Bryan) Parker and Brendan (Stephanie) Brady, Logan and Derek Beilke and seven greatgrandchildren." Havre Daily News, Tuesday, July 28th, 2009.
They had the following children.
+ 336 F i Doris Marie Brady. + 337 M ii Terrance Joseph "Terry" Brady. + 338 M iii James Michael Patrick "Jim" Brady. + 339 M iv Jack Edward Brady was born on 10 Feb 1949. He died in Nov 2019. 340 F v Marilyn Kaye Brady. Marilyn married Claude E. Miner, son of George Miner and Edith Ardell. Claude was born on 19 Aug 1940 in Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. He died on 10 Jun 2003 in Big Sandy, Chouteau, Montana, USA.
"CLAUDE E. MINER obituary BIG SANDY - Claude E. Miner, 62, farmer and veteran, died Tuesday, June 10, 2003, at home of cancer. A gathering and rosary will be today at 7:30 p.m. The funeral will be on Thursday at 11 a.m. at the St. Margaret Mary's Catholic Church in Big Sandy. Claude was born in Havre to George and Edith Adell (Anderson) Miner on Aug. 19, 1940. He was raised and lived most of his life in the Kenilworth area. He attended school at the Ferndale and Lincoln schools in the country until the family moved to town where he graduated from the Big Sandy High School. He attended college at the State School of Science in Wahpeton, N.D., and the Great Falls Commercial College in Great Falls. Claude was drafted into the U.S. Army and served from November 1963 to 1965 with the 103rd Engineer Co. (C5) at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Claude farmed with his mother, worked in town on elevators and at the telephone company, and did bartending during the winter months. Claude married Marilyn Brady on Jan 2, 1981. They farmed together until his retirement. Claude was a member of the American Legion Post 50 and was on the honor guard for a number of years. He was a shy person, but was known for his sense of humor. He enjoyed reading, sporting events, float trips on the river, climbing mountains to view the prairie, and the love of his wife. He was proud to have joined the Catholic church. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn; brothers, Burl (Nora) Miner of Butte and Gary "Butch" (Vindy) Miner of Alberton; sisters-in-law, Doris Suek of Portland, Ore., Annmarie (Randy) Robinson of Havre, Patty (Martin) Alley of Joplin; brothers-in-law, Terry (Roberta) Brady of Missoula, Jim (Mary) Brady of Malta, Jack (Linda) Brady of Havre, and Tom Brady of Havre; father- and mother-in-law, Ted and Mary Brady of Havre; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, two dogs and two cats. Memorials may be made to the Kenilworth Hall, c/o Marvin Works, Works Road, Big Sandy, MT 59520, or to the Hospice in Great Falls, or to the Gift of Life in Great Falls." Havre Daily News, Wednesday, June 11th, 2003.
Copyright © 2005 Havre Daily News341 F vi Cathy Ann Brady was born on 6 Feb 1953 in Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. She died on 28 Apr 1958 in Great Falls, Cascade, Montana, USA. She was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Havre, Hill, Montana, USA. 342 M vii Thomas Hugh "Tom" Brady. + 343 F viii Annemarie Louise "Anne Marie" Brady. 344 F ix Patricia Kay "Patty" Brady. Patty married Martin Alley.
217. James Emerson "Jim" Brady (Joseph Terence , John , Bridget , James , ) was born on 25 Oct 1920 in Cottonwood, Hill, Montana, USA. He died on 24 Jul 1971 in Minot, Ward, North Dakota, USA.
Joe Brady and his sons Earl, Ted and James were visitors in Havre last Sunday. Havre Daily News Promoter, May 10, 1929.
James Brady had the misfortune to sprain his ankle at school one day last week. The Havre Daily News, November 20, 1930.
Jim married Myla Eileen Groninger, daughter of Foster Leroy Groninger and Bertha Mae Spicher, on 14 Sep 1939 in Cottonwood, Hill, Montana, USA. Myla was born on 21 Sep 1918 in Burt, Ward, North Dakota, USA. She died on 8 Dec 2008 in Minot, Ward, North Dakota, USA. She was buried in Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot, Ward, North Dakota, USA.
Myla Hicks
Sept. 21, 1918-Dec. 8, 2008
December 11, 2008
Minot Daily News
Save | Post a comment | Bookmark and ShareMyla Hicks, 90, Minot, died Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, in Trinity Homes, Minot.
Myla was born Sept. 21, 1918, in Burt Township of Ward County, near Des Lacs, to Foster and Bertha (Spicher) Groninger. She received her formal education in the Drady Country School.
Myla was united in marriage to James E. Brady on Sept. 14, 1939. They made their home eight miles north of Havre, Mont., where they farmed and milked cows. They lived on the farm until moving to Minot in 1949.
Myla was employed at Troen Retirement Home (now known as Trinity Homes) as a kitchen assistant. She transferred to Trinity Hospital and worked in the dietary department until her retirement in 1983. James died on July 24, 1971.
Myla was united in marriage to Oliver Hicks. In retirement, Myla remained active as a volunteer for Trinity for many years, taking the responsibility of escorting patients to their appointments. Oliver died on Oct. 8, 1977.
Myla was an active member and volunteer of First Presbyterian Church, Minot. Her interest included gardening and embroidery. She will be deeply missed by all who shared in her life.
Myla's loving family includes: grandchildren, John (Martha) Terranova, Jr., Syracuse, N.Y., James (Shannon) Terranova, Liverpool, N.Y., Lloyd Arndt, Minot, Jason (Rachelle) Arndt, of Horace, and Tennille (Chris) DeSimone, Liverpool; great-grandchildren, Andreana, Anthony, James Jr., Farrah and Joseph Terranova, and NaTya, Kaylee and Kylee Arndt, and arriving newborn, Anthony Mario DeSimone; sisters, Doris Williams, Minot, and LaVonne Andreasen, Ogdensburg, N.J.; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Myla was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, James Brady and Oliver Hicks; daughters, Judith Terranova and Janice Brady; and sister, Alice Williams.
Funeral service: Friday, Dec. 12, 2008, at 1 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Minot.
Interment: Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot.
Visitation: Today from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Thomas Family Funeral Home, Minot.
Memorials are preferred to First Presbyterian Church, Minot.
Those wishing to sign the online memorial register or share memories are invited
to use the expressions
of sympathy section at (www.thomasfamilyfuneralhome.com).
They had the following children.
+ 345 F i Judith Ann "Judy" Brady was born on 29 Jun 1944. She died on 26 May 2008. + 346 F ii Janice Kay Brady was born on 23 Jan 1946. She died on 25 Nov 2005.