Happy Times

Let's start here, in a restaurant on Long Island, New York in August 1978.

That's me in the front, between Dad and Mom. My sister Audrey is standing behind me, with her hand on my shoulder. Brother Bert is to the left of Audrey, and brother Harry is to the right. Right of Harry is brother Hugh.

Earlier Times

All seven members of our Happy Times family came to America from Northern Ireland in March 1950 aboard the Cunard liner Franconia.
It took seven days and was said to be the worst March crossing of the north Atlantic in many years. I was four.

When I was twelve, Mom and Dad took me back to "the old country" in July 1958. We flew (for the very first time) for twelve hours on a Pan Am DC-7C from New York City to Shannon, Ireland with a re-fueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.
Mom hated the airplane flight so much, she made Dad change our return trip to the Cunard liner Mauretania.
It was said to be the worst July crossing of the north Atlantic in many years.

A Short Chronology of People

Here are the family members in order of appearance:

1. Dad (1904-1982)
   
2. Mom (1905-1998)
3. Audrey (1929- )
4. Harry (1934-2005)
5. Bert (1936-1995)
6. Hugh (1940-1991)
7. Me (1946- )

A Short Chronology of Places

Here are some of the places I lived with the family:

• 14 Torrens Parade, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK (1943-1950)
• 115-02 Rockaway Beach Blvd., Rockaway Park, NY, USA (1951-1956)
• 172 Beach 114th Street, Rockaway Park, NY, USA (1956-1957)
• 69-18 Beach Channel Drive, Arverne, NY, USA (1957-1963)
• 227 Beach 99th Street, Rockaway Beach, NY, USA (1963-1970)

Rockaway Locations 1951-1970 View Larger Map

Alan Looks Back (and forward) at Britishness

I recently found this profound definition of modern Britishness in Daniel Finkelstein’s “Comment Central” November 8, 2007 column Britishness in five little words on Times Online:

Americans who missed the boat

My aunt Vickie was such a one. She missed the boat to America (actually, she wasn’t invited) when we left Belfast in 1950, but she often came to visit us during her summer vacations.
(On the left is a 1963 picture of Aunt Vickie on a Bench.)

Vickie was named for the reigning queen when she was born, and she bore herself with regal elegance. She was amazingly erect and well spoken, and she was very proud of her English heritage (on her father’s side). Every Christmas, Vickie sent us a calendar with pictures of the Royal Family, and every summer she showed up at our home on Rockaway Beach.

My otherwise positive view of my aunt was colored by my mother’s utter disdain for the woman. Mom was annoyed that Vickie free loaded off us all summer, never offered to help around the house and drank gin on the sly. Mom also noted that Vickie was a waitress and not a member of royalty, even though she lorded it over everyone she met.

So, here’s my point: America is a classless society that is fascinated by visiting “royalty,” but in the end we reject unearned privilege. Britain has produced great poets, playwrights, warriors and statesmen who have earned the world’s praise. She has also produced some “first class” prats (like my aunt) who can keep their snooty attitudes at home (or just take them to the Costa del Sol like she had to after my mother rescinded her annual invitation).

A Short History of Me

I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on January 19, 1946 (right between Van Morrison and George Best, though I fancy myself more like that younger fella, Stephen Rea). I have no memory of my life in Belfast, my trip to America or any place we lived in New York before we settled on 115th Street in Rockaway when I was five. I attended PS 43, JHS 198 and Far Rockaway High School, where I graduated in 1963. I went to Brooklyn College for two years, got married to Virginia Orozco, moved to Detroit and finished college and law school at Wayne State University. Virginia and I had two children, Mary Elizabeth (December 11, 1965) and David Anthony (June 21, 1969). We moved to Milwaukee for two years, then settled in Rochester, New York in 1973. I was divorced in 1982 and married Katherine (Kay) Grady in 1985. Kay has two daughters from a prior marriage, Rachel Katherine (May 21, 1978) and Bridget Audrey (March 12, 1981). Our son Robert Forrest was born on January 14, 1986.

Kay and I live in Webster, a Rochester suburb on Lake Ontario, with a passel of wiener dogs. Here's me with one of them (Butter). This picture was taken on July 29, 2007 in front of our friend Claire Kaler's cottage at Sodus Point, New York.

McDonalds in the Dundonald Cemetery, Belfast, NI

This picture of the McDonald headstone was received today, November 4, 2011. It was taken one month ago by Andy who runs the website "Second World War in Northern Ireland."