My cousin Jimmy Clancy was born less that 100 days before me, in the summer of 1952. We shared a play area as infants, went through 12 years of
parochial school together, and shared a love of Ireland and all things Irish.
When I was very young, my grandmother Nellie (Bryan) Scanlon
lived at 100 Ashland Street. Next door at 102 Ashland Street was her
nephew Edward J. Clancy and his wife Claire. [1]
As a new mother and an only child, my mother spent a lot of time with her
mother. And consequently, I spent time with Jimmy next door.
Jimmy and I both attended Sacred Heart Grammar School on Robinson Street in West Lynn for Grades 1 through 8. Our first grade
teacher, Sister Mary Kieran (later known as Sister Rita McCormack CSJ) selected
us for the roles of Mary and Joseph in the Christmas play. We were
to be understudies for the featured performers, Carol Kelley and Jerry Sexton,
who were also cousins. If I remember correctly, David Dube played the
donkey.
After Sacred Heart, Jimmy and I both attended St Mary’s High
School, graduating in 1970. Jimmy was an outstanding athlete in high
school, and later attended American International College. Our lives took
different paths, and Jimmy and I did not see much of each other, until a chance
encounter brought us together on an Aer Lingus flight out of Shannon in 2002. I
was visiting Ireland with three high school classmates, celebrating out 50th birthdays. Jimmy was touring Ireland with his brother Chip. In the
terminal at Shannon Airport, I saw his brother, but I thought it must
just be someone who resembled him. After all, everyone in Ireland looked
like us!
My grandmother, Nellie, and Jimmy’s grandmother Alice (Bryan)
Clancy, were sisters from Inistioge, County Kilkenny. Ireland.
At some point in time, I learned that my birth grandmother, Mary (Scanlon)
McDermott, died when my mother was only two weeks old. My mother was adopted by an aunt and uncle. Nellie’s
husband, John Scanlon, was my mother's maternal uncle. So Jimmy was right! He had always said we were not related.
The next time I talked to Jimmy was at our 45th
high school reunion in 2015. We had a nice long talk and caught up on our
lives. I was looking forward to seeing him in 2020, but that won’t happen
now.
Rest in peace, cousin.
[1] Ancestry.com.
U.S. City Directories,
1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2011.
Copyright 2019, Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved