supply her with meat. Although very busy, Maggie helped to supplement the family income. Her expertise was in sewing. So she sewed, not only for all of her own family, but she took in sewing jobs as well. She often sat at the sewing machine late at night trying to complete a garment that someone would need the next day. For a while, the parish priest did not have a house-keeper, and Maggie baked her mouth—watering biscuits for him on an on—going basis.

It was September 26, 1945, a day that this family would never forget. On that day, Charlie received an honourable discharge, and returned home safe and sound to a very relieved and thankful family. Maggie’s and her family’s daily prayers had been answered. Although he was often situated on the front line, Charlie had not suffered any casualties, and was now able to continue on with a normal life. Maggie died on April 25, 1988, and Charlie died on January 1, 1996.

Mmri fFrYer-l

This is a true story remembered by Laura Shoemaker, a daughter of Charlie and Maggie Sheehan.

My earliest memory is of my grandfather and I riding in a horse drawn wagon. It was in 1942, when I was four years old. There was no pavement on the road then, and the dust would fly in clusters, each time the horses’ hooves touched the ground. We were on our way to the new home my grandfather was building for my parents.

I had no memory of my father. He was a very handsome, strong, wonderful looking man, in a uniform as displayed in a picture. It was part of our prayers to kiss this beautiful picture every night before we went to bed. He was in a land far away, some place called “overseas.”

126