By Father John O’Shea

When I celebrated my 25th Anniversary in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, June 5, 1966, my six brothers and two sisters and all of their children attended. This, of course, made me very happy, because this so seldom happens today when families are so widely scattered throughout our Country.

Those from out of state who attended were: Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius F. O’Shea, Detroit, Michigan, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald A. O’Shea, Dearborn, Michigan, Mrs. C.F. O’Shea’s aunt, Genevieve Convery, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Timothy J. O’Shea, Columbus, Ohio, James O’Shea, Wade, New York, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Chapman, Lavonia, Michigan, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Ranalli, Camden, N.J., Mr. and Mrs. Roy Zess, Moultrie, Mr. and Mrs. Emmet Heidt, Albany, and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred J. Norton, Englewood, New Jersey, Al and Anne have been my very close friends over the last 25 years.

From the trend of the times, it would seem that our forefathers of the frontier days were very wicked, since they had such large families and we know all the luxuries that they had back in those days, if we know anything about our early history. And I feel quite certain that these modernaires would conclude that my mother and dad were far out of line with the modern trend, since they had 10 children one of whom died in infancy.

You could, indeed, include my dad under the classification of those, who didn’t have a Chinaman’s chance of successfully raising a large family in the U.S.A., but unfortunately, the wise sociologists and psychologists weren’t on tap to give him their sound and wise advice.

I say this because my dad emigrated from Laharn, Lombardstown, County Cork, Ireland in the early 1900’s and settled in Augusta, Georgia, since he had a cousin living there. I expect he was about 16 years of age at that time, and from this time forward, he would by the help of God be responsible for his own way in the world.

About the only thing that he possessed at the time was a good sound education and a special interest in good literature. The only further education that he obtained in this country was a business course. I believe that my dad’s education in Ireland, although he never attended college, was equivalent to many college graduates in the states at that time.

He was employed in only two jobs: one as a clerk at the Augusta Lumber Co. for a brief time, and for the rest of his life he was associated with accounting department of the Georgia Railroad and Associated Lines.

He had been promoted to auditor of the accounting department of the Georgia R.R., which was the top position in the accounting department. He was later transferred to Atlanta and was comptroller of the Atlanta & West Point, The Western RR. of Alabama and the Georgia Railroad.

It certainly was an accomplishment for the Irish country lad who came to American in his early teens to rise to these positions of responsibility. I assure you he did this through his innate ability and not through any devious means, such as boot-licking, or, buttering up those, who were in a position to assure his success.

My dad was married to Catherine B. Murphy about 1903. Katie Murphy’s mother and dad were both from County Cork, Ireland.

From this alliance, 10 children arrived, and all lived to maturity, except the first child, Gerald, who died at about the age of one. As a matter of fact, all of the others survived until my youngest sister, Peggy Bergen, died in January two years ago.

One of the things that I fondly remember concerning my parents is that they were as much in love with each other near the end of their life as they were when they were newly-weds.

By this I don’t mean that they went around publicly trying to impress outsiders with their love for each other, but anyone who knew them, were well aware that they had fallen in love and that the love had enduring qualities.

My mother and dad never forgot their love of the “Emerald Isle” and along with this their main interests and concern were connected with the Catholic Church, the United States and their family.

They never saw the inside of a night club but survived it very well. They were interested in thins of a cultural nature, such as high class theatricals and other good entertainment media. My mother was a pianist and could assist in entertaining the family, friends and also some of the servicemen, who were stationed at Camp Hancock during the First World War.

In spite of the fact that my father’s salary was never fabulous, my brother, Nicholas Aloysius, received his degree from Georgia State College and I attended St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, Md., and was ordained a priest by the late Bishop Gerald P. O’Hara, June 7, 1941 at the Cathedral of Christ the King.

We were the first priests ordained at the new Cathedral (Msgr. John Toomey and Father William Goldsmith were ordained with me).

Cornelius Francis received his engineering degree from Georgia Tech and later his masters degree from Chrysler Institute of Engineering. Arthur Kevin obtained two degrees in engineering from Georgia Tech and Gerald received his engineering degree from Georgia Tech.

Nicholas O’Shea is senior accountant in the accounting department at the Atlanta Arts Alliance. I am a priest in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and have been a priest for 28 years, in the Diocese of Savannah, Savannah-Atlanta and Atlanta, and now the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

Timothy Joseph is located in Columbus, Ohio as station manager for Delta Air Lines. Mary Fleming, the only surviving sister is confined to the hospital, James J. Jr., is manager of Bell Tone in Columbus, Ga., Arthur Kevin is sales manager in Atlanta, for Westinghouse Electric Company. Cornelius and Gerald are engineers with the Ford Motor Company, Detroit, Michigan.

It would seem that the sociologist might not be entirely correct in their contentions about the dire deprivations that must come to large families.