Mr. Satisfactory: Memoirs of an Excellent Life

By Martin G Kavanaugh

Marty on the Swilcan Bridge,
June 24, 2014

Mr. Satisfactory is an autobiography and abridged history of the author and his extended family. It tells the authors story of a life growing up in a large loving family from Indianapolis. The story begins with our familys start in the early twentieth century, our parents high school days in the forties, growing up in a Catholic family with seven siblings in the fifties and sixties, and through current day as my generation embarks on our golden years. You will journey with the author, his family, and his friends through his twelve years of parochial education and all the shenanigans and mischief a boy and teen can get himself into. Come along with us on family trips and outings. You will enjoy a front-row seat at athletic events and achievements, holidays, weddings, funerals, and much more. Mr. Satisfactory pays tribute to the authors family and friends. It is a book of real-life unforgettable stories and experiences. Marty exposes his inner thoughts, tells lifelong secrets, and confesses his faults and shortcomings. A strong work ethic, an abundance of common sense, a little bit of luck, and Gods help, turned twelve Satisfactory school years into an Excellent life. I hope you enjoy this book and begin to consider your own lifes story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504901086

Martin G Kavanaugh

Marty Kavanaugh was born in 1953. He was the third son of Jim and Phyllis Kavanaugh. He has five brothers and two sisters. They were raised in a traditional Catholic family in Indianapolis. Marty was never a gifted student yet enjoyed twelve years of Catholic education at St. Andrew Grade School and Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, where he has been a lifelong resident. He has found writing to be pleasurable as an adult, which would surprise many of his old teachers and classmates. “Mr. Satisfactory” is his second book following “A Hockey Road Well Traveled” published in 2009. Marty and his wife, Ginger, of forty-one years are proud of their three children and enjoy the love and company of three grandchildren. To date, we have nineteen nieces and nephews and fifteen great-nieces and great-nephews. Marty likes a variety of sports, particularly golf and hockey. He enjoys travel and eating out at restaurants and loves going to the movies. Though still working, he looks forward to the golden years with his family.

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© 2015 Martin G Kavanaugh. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/26/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0109-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0110-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0108-6 (e)

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Part 1 Hall Of Family

(1) Inaugural Hall Of Family Class

(2) HOF, Unanimous Selections

(3) HOF, Old Timers Category

(4) HOF, Media Category

(5) HOF, Builders Category

(6) HOF, Record Holders

(7) HOF, Active Roster

(8) HOF, Blue Chips

(9) HOF, Futures

Part 2 Education

(10) In Nomine Patris

(11) St. Andrew The Apostle

(12) High Schools

Part 3 Domestic

(13) The Mansion

(14) Family Meals

(15) Housework

(16) Mr. M.D.

(17) Pets

(18) Transportation

(19) Friends

(20) Roderick St. John’s

(21) ATF

(22) Family Homes

(23) Grandma’s Gift

(24) Work

Part 4 Entertainment

(25) The Seahorse

(26) Parks & Recreation

(27) Family Vacations

(28) Ladies and Gentleman

(29) Restaurants

Part 5 Social Gatherings

(30) Holidays

(31) Weddings

(32) Social Network

(33) Funerals

Part 6 Sports

(34) Games

(35) Dealer’s Choice

(36) Sports

(37) Golf

(38) Pro Stadiums

(39) Best Athlete

Part 7 Lists

(40) A List Of Lists

(41) The End

Dedication

To Mom & Dad

Thanks for your Love, Faith, and Guidance.

To our Grandparents for all you did,

and especially our Great Aunt Margaret.

Preface

I have had the idea of writing my life’s memoirs and abridged family history for a few years. The timing was a little tricky. I wanted to wait long enough so that there were plenty of stories worth telling, yet not so long that it’s too late. To leave a piece of eternal family history for my siblings and the younger generations to enjoy was an important challenge for me. None of us will be around forever and this book is my effort to stay relevant and share some of that history for current and future generations.

There are many common threads that run through our family but none as prominent as education and sports. For that reason, I included high school sports stories of many family members with their help. The other stories in this book, though they involve many people, are mine and mine alone. These stories have been confirmed by memoirs, eyewitness, pictures, and plain fact, yet a few are certainly blurred by the memory of time and open to debate. People mentioned in these pages will no doubt laugh, cry, learn, remember, be amused, reflect fondly into the history of their own life, and possibly even protest in vain. I begin this journey through life with our immense family roster, including Hall of Family status, and continue with various subjects that were pertinent in my life and that of our family’s. The book may ask more questions among our family than answer, and I hope it does, as family dialog is a beautiful thing and should be relished at all times.

I would like to thank all those who helped add their personal story and confirm other stories with fact. I hope you will enjoy reading about the history of mine and our family’s life. I’ve experienced more in my life than most people dream of. It is my pleasure to share these stories with you. It’s A Wonderful Life indeed. Enjoy, and Dominus Vobiscum.

Martin Gavin Kavanaugh

Part 1

Hall Of Family

(1) Inaugural Hall Of Family Class

John Leroy Kavanaugh 8-30-1896 to 12-28-1967

Mary Thelma Kavanaugh 2-19-1901 to 6-12-1998

Ace Raymond Early 9-3-1906 to 11-9-1982

Mary L. Early 3-9-1909 to 1-28-1992

My seven siblings and I were fortunate to enjoy the company, generosity, and wisdom of all four grandparents. Sadly, many people can’t make that claim. My youngest sister Mary was not yet two years old when our paternal grandfather passed in 1967 so there’s no way she could remember him. Not a problem for the rest of us. Our Grandma and Grandpa Kavanaugh lived and raised their three sons in the Indianapolis area. Our Dad Jim was their third and youngest son born in 1928.

Our grandfather began his working life as a plumber and when prohibition ended in 1933, he got into the liquor business opening the Pennway Tavern on the near north side of Indianapolis. The name Pennway came from its location at the corner of Pennsylvania and Ft. Wayne Avenues. The bar and restaurant still exist today and goes by the name of The Elbow Room at the same location. A picture of Grandma and Grandpa taken the day they opened for business in 1933, sit proudly today at the end of the bar in the Elbow Room. Some years later they sold the Pennway and purchased Lake Shore Golf and Country Club on the city’s southside. They retained their liquor license and now served food and drink in conjunction with the golf course enterprise. The golf club today no longer exists. It was located on the southside of town on Carson avenue near the area where the current University of Indianapolis sets. This should give you an idea why myself and many siblings have been or are in the plumbing business at some point in our lives, most all of us play golf, and all of us enjoy a drink. I trust Grandma and Grandpa made good money because they retired near the age of fifty. In the late forties they retired to Coral Gables, Florida. In 1948, Grandpa, Grandma, and his sister, our Great Aunt Margaret, took a thirty day 11,000 mile car trip to the western United States and parts of Canada. Grandpa wrote a diary of their trip and titled his trip, Once In A Lifetime. For a number of years into the fifties and sixties, they kept a second home either in Gnaw Bone, Indiana in Brown County, Indiana, or Greenwood, Indiana. We had visited both Gnaw Bone and Greenwood as children. The only thing I remember about the home in Gnaw Bone is it had a lot of screens, a fly swatter or two, and an outhouse. That’s where you had to take care of your business. The home in Greenwood sat up on a nice hill and they had a pond good for swimming or fishing as our Grandma liked to do. They even put in a diving board for the kids to enjoy. It was about two meters high. One time, Grandpa forgot to put the emergency brake on his car and the car rolled back from the driveway right into the pond. A wrecker retrieved the car but I don’t know that it was worth anything after the rinsing. Grandma and Grandpa always had a dog when we were young. A black cocker spaniel by the name of Jenny. Jenny liked to join us when we went swimming in the pond. Many years later our family had a blonde cocker spaniel. It was named Jenny Two.

My Grandpa Kavanaugh is best remembered by me for rolling his thin dress socks down to his ankles, wearing his pants high, and bouncing the grandkids on his knee. Our Florida cousins called him Buppy but that moniker never stuck within our family. Grandpa liked to experiment with craftwork using tiles or making mosaics with glass and beads. He was very creative and maybe some of his creativity rubbed off on me. Brother Brian has one of his tile tabletops made in the sixties with a big letter K in the center of it.

Grandma Kavanaugh is best remembered as a fisherman, a golfer, and she liked to grow and cook rhubarb. While living in Greenwood, she belonged to the local Eldorado Country Club. She was fond of growing her own backyard rhubarb and making rhubarb pie. And she was a bleeder. I can’t recall one time she ever baited a hook for fishing without bleeding. Grandma Kavanaugh brought the word grip into the family vernacular. Grip, meaning a suitcase or traveling bag.

In 1964, our entire family, sorry Mary, went to visit them in Coral Gables for Christmas. What a fine Christmas that was as some of us, including myself, went to the old North South college all star football game in the Orange Bowl. Stars such as Dick Butkus, John Huarte, Jack Snow, and Gayle Sayers all participated. Years after Grandpa Kavanaugh died, Grandma moved to the Melbourne, Florida area where she enjoyed many good years. Into her nineties, she moved back to Indianapolis in assisted living. She passed in 1998 at the age of 97. That’s what I call a good run. They were an American success story and we loved them.

Our maternal grandparents were Ace Raymond Early and Mary Early. That’s correct, Ace. The family joke was that he was won in a game of cards. They came from Hillsboro, Illinois and eventually made their way to Indianapolis as fortune would have it for us. By the time I came around, I only remember them living in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. In retirement, they too made their way to the Melbourne, Florida area where they kept a good friendship with our Grandma Kavanaugh. I don’t expect many in laws are as close as our grandparents became but there certainly was never any uneasiness when the group of them were together. My Grandpa Early was a small man yet a boxer of note in his younger years. He had a nice scar across the bridge of his nose to prove it. They made their money eventually in the elevator business as Grandpa founded the Early Elevator Company in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. My Mother had two younger brothers and it was the youngest, Richard, who took over the company after Grandpa’s retirement.

On November 24th, 1963, our family drove up to Ft. Wayne to visit them on a Sunday morning as the nation was grieving the loss of a President. Lee Harvey Oswald met his executioner about the time we were walking into their home. I could never forget that.

Christmas of 1964 had Grandma and Grandpa Early come down to Indy for a Holiday visit. Santa brought us a pool table that year. Not a full 8’ table you would immediately picture in your mind but maybe a 5’ table, 3’ wide with balls about half the size of a regulation table. Grandpa proved he had spent a day or two in the pool halls as a younger man. He showed us all how to put English on a pool ball with his cue. Grandpa was famous for driving the Imperial automobile produced by Chrysler. He will always be remembered for smoking a pipe and his pencil moustache. The Early family was famous for playing card games. They loved to gamble playing Poker, Michigan Rummy, or a game called Tripoley. As they say in the song, penny a point ain’t no one keeping score. I don’t believe the stakes were ever high. What else do I remember about Grandma and Grandpa Early? Wow could they laugh and have a good time. Grandma laughed after nearly every sentence. It didn’t matter whether she may or may not have said something funny. She laughed and we followed. I’m certain in her mind she was the funniest person alive. When it was dinner time, and there was a big crowd in the house, which was every time they were with our family, they liked to say, grab, grunt, and growl. That was jokingly the short version of grace. Of course the official saying of grace always preceded the meal or succeeded the grab, grunt, and growl call. Grandpa Early also might say, you can call me whatever you like, just don’t call me late for supper, and always followed by uproarious laughter from Grandma Early. One of the last big occasions I remember with them together was their 50th wedding anniversary in Ft. Wayne, In. That was one fine event. Grandpa Early died in 1982 at the age of 76. Grandma followed 10 years later in 1992. We were blessed as a family to have all four grandparents around for so many years. Looking at old family photos and videos, they were around quite a bit.

(2) HOF, Unanimous Selections

James Lawrence Kavanaugh 9-13-1928 to 5-23-1988

Phyllis Louise Early Kavanaugh 2-18-1928 to 12-13-2010

Our parents were James (Jim) Lawrence Kavanaugh and Phyllis Louise Early Kavanaugh. They were both born in 1928, Dad in Indianapolis and Mom in Hillsboro, Illinois. Mom’s family moved to Indy and Dad and her became high school sweethearts in the mid forties. Dad could and should be considered the patron saint of athletics for all who followed in his lineage. Dad was a football and golf star at Cathedral High School. He was one heck of a baseball coach for us kids too. He played his high school football under the tutelage of legendary coach Joe Dezelan. He was what was referred to as a blocking end in high school. Today that position is known as tight end. He was also the teams punter. He was named to the second team All-City team his Junior year and named to the Indianapolis News first team All-City / County Dream Team as a Senior. The team was selected by Marion County coaches. Cathedral won the city football title in his Senior season. Dad also played on the golf team but records are scant. We do know he played in a national tournament held for caddies at the conclusion of his Senior year. With two local spots available out of seventy-six hopefuls, Dad was Medalist with a low round of 79 at local Highland Golf Club. The national tournament was held at Ohio State and the first round pared the field to the low 64 where match play would ensue. Not playing his best golf, he did qualify and won his first two match play games to survive to the round of sixteen. According to a newspaper article, Quiet Jim Kavanaugh would face fast-talking Ralph Holquin of San Antonio, Texas. Unfortunately, we could find no further details of the event. I have little doubt as to the results.

Mom and Dad both graduated high school in 1946. Dad began college at Butler University in Indianapolis lettering in football under another legendary coach, Tony Hinkle. He finished his studies at Miami College in Dade County, Florida after my grandparents had retired and moved south. Dad moved back to Indianapolis after college and you may wonder why, since his two brothers stayed in the Miami area for the rest of their lives. I can think of two reasons, his sweetheart named Phyllis, and opportunity. He made the most of both and my seven siblings and I concur.

Our Mother attended St. John’s Academy all girls High School in Indianapolis. She was class secretary and an excellent student earning a scholarship to Butler University. She earned a certificate in piano music from St. John’s Department of Music. As a class officer, she helped in the planning of Senior Prom which was held at Lakeshore Country Club, which is the club her boyfriends (our Dad) parent’s owned. Mom’s parent’s were one of four sets of parents to chaperone the event. A recent finding through Mom’s archives exposed the fact that her and Jimmy (our Dad) were out quite late on Prom night. After the dance on Indy’s southside which ended at midnight, written memoirs show they drove all the way up to Noblesville for a late night swim. It would appear as though they had a wonderful time, sat beneath a starry sky and listened to crickets and frogs along the ponds edge. For reasons unknown, police were met early in the morning and the prom date got back home at 5:00 a.m. I don’t believe anything untoward happened that evening but it’s interesting to note that the curfew of my older siblings on prom night were nothing close to 5:00 a.m. That’s why parents can be tough on their kids. They remember what they were doing at that age. After a brief stay at Butler the following fall, she decided college life was not to her liking and left the University.

She was born at a time when it would have been more unusual if she had a career in the workforce as opposed to homemaking and being a mother. After high school, she worked as an operator for the phone company but on November 12th, 1949, she married Dad and went straight to having a career being a homemaker and mother. Eight of us became the benefit of her stay at home career. Mom and Dad wasted no time starting their family of eight children as James Michael (Mike) was born in September of 1950. Mom was a good cook, excellent nurse to eight of us, found a way to balance her time, and she kept a clean home with our help and dished out a good and fair balance of discipline. She found time to help with our homework when necessary and she had the most beautiful penmanship.

Dad worked in the plumbing wholesale supply business as a salesman with Indianapolis local company Winthrop Supply. In 1961, with a loan from his father, Dad opened plumbing wholesaler Kavanaugh Supply. Six kids with one on the way had no doubt forced his hand to go it alone. That took courage and confidence. Things became so successful, an eighth child was added in 1966.

There was little patience for us kids screwing up around the house. We were all expected to chip in with the chores and a dereliction of our duties might find swift judgment and punishment. Looking back I wonder how Mom handled all the messes, cleaning, laundry, shopping, taxiing, school work, and cooking with eight kids. We never went without any of the essentials. Love, food, shelter, heat, clothing, education, and religion were all supplied in abundance. We all got to our games or plays or recitals or dentist and doctor appointments as scheduled. The sixties were an easier time as many things, such as going to school was just a walk away, but raising eight children can never be easy. The grocery, the drug store, the Dairy Queen, the Meadows and Glendale shopping centers were all within walking distance or a very short drive. Today, I drive a mile just to get out of my subdivision. Dad found time in his busy schedule to coach us kids in baseball. He was a terrific coach but found more time for the three oldest boys as a coach. Additional work duties, burnout, and age, most likely factored in to the younger five not getting the same attention from Dad as far as coaching goes. He also made it to all our games whether it be baseball, football, or basketball, while Mom handled domestic duty. Mom was able to attend her fair share of games. She would simply bundle up the younger kids and they would come in tow. Dad bowled in the Friday night church league at The Meadows. He carried a 160 average which was better than most. I always looked forward to tagging along and meeting my friends at the lanes. We would always go to the big scoreboard to look up our parents averages and then off to play pinball or other games. Mom had her fun too by simply having coffee with friends or talking on the phone.

Early in 1973 Dad bought another plumbing wholesaler in town called Plumbers Supply. I’m sure it was a big gamble on his part and an expensive endeavor but he had the knowledge, guts, confidence, work ethic, and personnel to pull it off with great success. In their early fifties, they purchased a condominium in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Dad’s three oldest sons, Mike, Tim, and I were running the day to day business at Plumbers Supply and Dad was able to spend winters in the warmth of the south and living on a golf course which he played often. We would talk to him on a daily basis on matters of import and he largely trusted our judgment on the daily affairs.

Dad passed at the young age of 59 in 1988. He died of bile cancer. At the time, I was 35 and I knew Dad was too young to die. I didn’t know how young he was until my older brothers and I approached that age. Today I’m 61, and 59 seems VERY young. I’m glad my parents had their years of fun and relaxation in Florida during the cold northern winters. They earned it and deserved it but Dad sure got cheated out of a lot of good years. When my mother died 22 years later in 2010, she counted twenty-two grandchildren and eleven great grand-children. Dad only saw 16 grandchildren and a handful of them were too young to ever remember him. He missed so much but gave so much more in his short time. Mom enjoyed the pleasure of 22 additional years but now misses out as additional great grandchildren (seven since her passing) are being added at factory pace. I guess the end comes calling for all of us eventually. None of their children are perfect but for the most part, I believe we are making them proud. Thanks Mom and Dad. You will always be remembered and we love you very much.

Kavanaugh002.jpg

Dad, Uncle Jack, Grandpa, and Uncle Joe

(3) HOF, Old Timers Category

Margaret Gavin Kavanaugh 12-3-1891 to 1-16-1989

Aunt Margaret was more important to our family than anyone living outside our home. In fact, she was our Great Aunt Margaret, our paternal grandfather’s older sister. She was born a mere 26 years after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. I add that anecdote to show you how short life really is. What were you doing 26 years ago? Aunt Margaret never married and was as much if not more like a Grandmother to us kids as anyone. She had a forty year working career at H.P. Wasson’s department store. She mostly worked in the shoe department as a saleslady. This is back in the day where you could survive and even thrive earning a living with such a position. I don’t have a visual memory of this but it’s known that she would bring us kids shoes from time to time. In my time, she always lived by herself and owned her own car. She lived close by in the Indianapolis area and we would sometimes get to stay all night with her when we were young. That was always a treat, including walking with her to Mass the following morning down the street at St. Phillip Neri Church. Aunt Margaret was always around the family and one of her claims to fame was she took delight in buying our family’s weekly bread needs. Once every other week she would come over with a dozen plus loaves of bread. She’s the reason I fell in love with seeded rye. For some of us, bread became more important to us than dessert.

Aunt Margaret was also famous for her green ink pens. Maybe it was the Irish in her but she always wrote in green ink. She would send us kids birthday cards with a $5 bill and a XOX above her green signature. The envelopes were never addressed to Marty Kavanaugh but always to Master Martin Kavanaugh. All of my male siblings birthday envelopes from Margaret would have been similarly addressed. She made us feel important. She is responsible for some of us using the word Lawzy. I’m certain that’s as close as she ever got to profanity. She would often use Lawzy in exclamation of surprise or a term of appreciation or satisfaction. She was a friend to the Sisters of Providence at the local parishes and throughout the State. She chauffeured nuns around all over the State of Indiana, even as far as St. Meinrad in Southern Indiana. Trips to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods near Terre Haute, Indiana were commonplace. She was quite fond of travel and visited all fifty states, parts of Canada, and Western Europe. She especially enjoyed her visits to Spain and Ireland.

I have a sister and a few nieces with the middle name of Margaret in tribute to the great lady. My middle name, Gavin, is the same as Margaret’s. My son Jason, his daughter Kinsley, and my niece Maia also carry the Gavin middle name. It’s an honor. Of all our ancestors, her birthday is the one everyone remembers. Each December 3rd, someone in the family will inevitably send out an Email and an old photo of her as a reminder of Margaret’s birthday, as if we needed it. We typically respond with, what a great lady, or simply, Lawzy. We lost Aunt Margaret in 1989. My Dad died a year earlier and I know she took it hard. He was a favorite of hers and I don’t think she could go on without him. But she was 97 years old so I guess anyone might have had enough by then. She has always been missed but never forgotten. I don’t know what the qualifications are for sainthood in the Catholic Church but Margaret Gavin Kavanaugh has certainly been overlooked, at least for now. God Bless.

(4) HOF, Media Category

Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, & Nephews

Our Dad and Mom both had two brothers. All four were married which allowed us four uncles and four aunts. My Dad’s brothers both graduated from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis but moved to the Miami, Fl. area for good when Grandma and Grandpa headed south for retirement. They eventually married and raised their family’s in the Miami area so we seldom saw them. In fact, of the South Florida crew of which there were seven cousins total, I probably have only seen my cousin Patty in the last forty plus years. Our Dad’s oldest brother Jack died at a young age. He was still in his forties, and I can’t say I remember him at all. Uncle Jack and Aunt Kay had three children, Kathy, Patty, and Johnny. My Dad’s other brother Joe died just recently on 10-13-2014. Uncle Joe and his wife Helen, or our Aunt Helen, had four boys. Larry was the oldest followed by Tommy, Dickie, who had red hair like his paternal grandmother, and finally Kenny. Those four boys nearly mirrored our oldest four boys in age. Larry was a good athlete. Tommy grew up with polio and wore a brace on his leg in his youth. Dickie seemed a little goofy back in the day but hey, weren’t we all. I have only feint memories of Kenny. When we visited in Florida, they would run around barefoot all the time. The broadleaf Florida grass felt prickly to us northerners and I never knew how they could run in that grass without it hurting their feet.

Of my Mom’s brothers, Uncle Richard and Aunt Joan lived in Ft. Wayne for as long as I can remember. Of all our cousins, that family was the one we were closest to. Larry was their oldest yet younger than me by a year, followed by Elaine, Michelle and finally Mark, who grew up to be the spitting image of his old man. We still see the Ft. Wayne cousins occasionally, but not often enough. Mom’s other brother, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary lived in different cities throughout the years including Louisville and for a short time in Indianapolis. They last settled in the Memphis area. Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary had five children. The oldest were Ellen and John, who was a good baseball player. John once subbed on my St. Andrew 8th grade baseball team. As a sub they made him play right field. A single to him in right turned into an out as John’s throw to me at first base beat the runner. No one had ever seen that before. Our opponent was less than thrilled with our substitute. After John was Charlie, Theresa, and Catherine. We were never really that close but always enjoyed their company when the opportunity presented itself. I hope they are all doing well.

(5) HOF, Builders Category

Mary Margaret Kavanaugh Murphy 7-20-1966

Tony Trent Murphy 9-10-1963

Mary’s middle name is the same as our Great Aunt’s first name. The middle name of Margaret became a tradition of sorts in the family as a few girls carry that same middle name. Mary is the youngest of eight and the one us older siblings most likely knew the least while growing up. My memory is that of a cute little girl with blonde curly hair and a big smile. She never caused any problems as a youngster. I expect she was afraid to. The next thing I remember was her being a young adult. As close as I feel our family is, there’s very little I remember about a younger sister of thirteen years while growing up. By the time I moved out of the house in 1972, Mary was but six years old. When you add it up, that means I missed all of her twelve years of standard education. Recently, she reminded me she attended high school for a short time at a private academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. Going to school there doesn’t sound familiar to me in the least. It actually sounds like a heck of a deal but I think it was punishment as Mom and Dad had a condo in the area and were spending their winters in the South. I believe Mary was forced to stay close by to Mom and Dad so she wouldn’t get in any trouble.

Mary had a son Brandon with her first marriage to Eddie Rich and in 1992 she married Tony Murphy who had two young children of his own, similar in age to Brandon. They were Zach and Auna. They started their mini version of the Brady Bunch. Mary and Tony are a great couple. Tony likes to run for exercise and competition. He