By that time, John and Angelina had started a family of their own. Their first daughter, Eileen, was born in May of 1903, and 15 more children would follow: John, Elizabeth, Wilfred, Edith, Margaret, James Earl, Maurice, Leslie, Mary, Gerard, Marion, Elmer, Leonard, Lorne and the last, daughter Kathleen. A large family was common among Irish Catholics on the Island at that time, and the Keefe’s could be seen on Sundays walking the short distance , . 7 up the road to St. Malachy’s church. "é-M ‘ .. - \3 Even at a young age, all the children

[(atbleen’s Pam“, [aim ml Angelina pitched in, tending to housework, Keqfé in the early 1930: the garden, and as they got older,

took on a variety of farm chores. It

was a challenging life, with a semi—subsistence living, but the family and community were close—knit, hard working and enterprising.

In 1913, with seven young children at the time, tragedy struck the

Keefe family. An epidemic of diptheria swept through the community. Diptheria is a virulent disease which develops rapidly and deadly. It is characterized by headaches, fever, sore throat and swelling of the neck. Death can result from suffocation or from the effects of a toxin that often accompanied the disease. It resulted in death for four out of every 10 it infected. No one is immune from its ravages, and little could be done at the time to prevent epidemics.

Over the summer of 1913, the Keefes lost three daughters to diptheria. Eileen, their first born, died on July 9 at the age of nine. Elizabeth, then seven years old, died on September 10. Then Margaret, who was just 20 months old, died on September 21. Over the space of two and a half months, John and Angelina lost three of their seven children, which must have been devastating to them. The three sisters were buried side by side in St. Malachy’s cemetery.

28 KATHLEEN MURPHY, MAITRIARC