| A Tribute | for everyone |
Why wasn't this a classic American underclass train wreck?
Her "mother" left town and returned a couple days later on the train with the baby, which she raised through a succession of at least seven (7) step-fathers (and, by reputation, other temporary visitors), pregnant at 16, thus not allowed to finish her senior year, married a man12 years her senior a couple years later and bore four more children, living in a Chicago tenement and on a hardscrabble farm outside Centralia, Illinois. The family did, in fact, have a pot (or two, one upstairs, one downstairs) to pee in for those cold nights when a trip to the outhouse was impractical; but neither well went dry, the garden grew, and government cheese helped. You get the picture.
Or at least you might think so. But, with her husband, John (who had his own story, including being told at 14 by his father that he "wasn't needed around here anymore" and sent packing to his sister's), she raised five successful children, productive citizens all. The last 2-3 years weren't kind to her, but she always said she'd had a good life.
I was privileged to marry one of her daughters and was touched by the honor and respect paid to her by those children and grandchildren at her funeral. She'd have been (or was, I'm sure, depending on your concept of the afterlife) pleased by the musical tribute (no words could have been as appropriate) offered by two of her grandchildren, Kevin and Tricia.
So, again, why wasn't this a classic American underclass train wreck? I don't have the answer. But I will suggest that the winners of all the "Survivor" television shows wouldn't have been able to compete with her in this real world challenge.
So, here's to you Geraldine Shahan (1918-2011), an American success story of overcoming the odds. You have my respect, admiration, love and thanks.
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