In my eyes, my entire family is based around my grandfather. He was the rock of the family. The family I was given now is all based on him. My grandfather grew up with his three sisters and three brothers. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he grew up and was raised by Alice and John Joseph Long in a small area of Saint Louis known as the “Kerry Patch.” (1) The Irish of the 1840’s had not lived in freedom in their homeland. They had lived in a land where they had been forbidden to speak their only language of knowing and the religion they believed in.
Those who had survived the agony in Ireland and lived to step off steamboats at the St. Louis landing were determined to make themselves a better life. Because the Irish had already begun describing their Irish homes as a ‘patch’ of land and because so many of the Irish in St. Louis came from Kerry, it was natural to call their first homes ‘The Kerry Patch’. This little area was the home away from home because John Joseph was of Irish decent.
My grandfather, John, was the oldest son and was usually the one helping around the house the most. Even working at an early age to help provide for the poor family. He was a bagger for a store and would take groceries to neighbor’s houses. An oral tradition in my family is that he used to carry groceries to the famous mobster Al Capone. Another job was purely babysitting all his siblings while his parents would work. My grandfather would not complain about working hard for the household. He had to do what he had to do. His dad, John Joseph, was troubled, and wasn’t the best provider, and was a smoker. This would later lead to his father’s death.
My grandfather’s name was known by his middle name Kenneth. As Kenneth grew older he attended grade school but was not able to finish high school because he joined the Navy at 18. Therefore, he packed up. He left everyone behind. He was a clerk on the boat and even learned how to operate a boat as most sailors needed to know. When talking to my aunt, Colleen about his time in the military, she said he did not talk much about it. Another oral tradition about my grandfather was that he had met a girl overseas and wanted to marry her but she declined because she did not want to leave her family.
After arriving back from the Navy, he had to find a job and find a way to earn money. In the process, he met my grandmother, Mary Jane (Jane). Meeting her parents was tough because they wanted a rich man and he only had money from before the Navy he saved up. His family was not rich by any means. Eventually, Kenneth and Jane were married at a big church and had a painting of them during the wedding ceremony so they had to stand very still the entire time. Soon after, Jane gave birth to four girls and one boy. The boy was the oldest (Kevin) and would be in charge of terrorizing the household. For example, when his siblings had friends over, he would take his bow and arrow and chase his sisters and their friends around the house. My aunt said she and her friend were backed into the bathroom and threatened that he would shoot the bow through the door.
Kevin was a football jock and thought he was the coolest kid until the day his father’s car was stolen. It was a nice, brand new car that everyone thought was nice and costly. Until one night, his parents were at an event and their car was stolen. They drove around for hours looking for it and called the cops and it had not been spotted. Kevin then drove around after school the next day and swore he saw a kid from school working in his garage on a car with seats that looked exact like the ones in his parent’s car. He claimed they were too nice of seats for the car the kid was working on.
The day after that, Kevin went to school and started a fight and Kevin claimed he beat the kid up and then the beaten up kid went to Kevin’s father and yelled at him for what his son did. John made Kevin go and apologize. No further action was taken. Even though Kevin still claims those were his parent’s car parts. Weeks later, there was another school event and the same kid that ran to Kevin’s father, was now speeding over the football field and messing it up. Kevin had said that all he said to his dad in that moment was “See dad, where that kid is right there is where our seats are.”
My grandfather had strength for the entire family. When my grandmother fell ill with depression. She got very sick very quickly. Money was very tight from having many people in the family and it was hard to pay for treatment and John did what he had to do. This had hurt my aunts and uncles looking at their mother like this. They were all so young. After my grandmother came home, things were not quite the same. My aunts and uncles were now unable to do many things they used to because they were told not to stress their mother at all. The younger siblings claimed they did not have the same childhood as the older siblings. Even their aunt came over a lot to help with the laundry and the kids. Kenneth was at Jane’s side through everything. Through the struggle, Jane overcame the illness and was there for her children through many years.
Through years and years, Kenneth and Jane’s family grew up fast and now they were having many grandchildren. In 2001, they had a new grandchild from their daughter, Stacey, and had adopted her all the way from Minsk, Belarus and that was I! However, through all the good times, my Grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Chemo took a very big tool and made her very weak.
Family knew it would be very hard to overcome. Sadly, that was the hardest to overcome and she passed away months after I arrived. I did not get to spend much time with her, but her legacy was carried on by the entire family. My grandfather would still sleep on the same side of the bed as if my grandmother was there. He had hung up a picture in their bedroom to remember her. He also never took off his wedding ring. Not many people saw him cry but this was a time where he was weak and was not embarrassed by it.
I grew up with my grandfather being my role model from his love for life and family. When his family needed him, he was a call away. Our family (aunts, uncles, and cousins) would go over every Sunday to his house in the afternoon and enjoy each other’s company until dinnertime and would stay past dark just talking and laughing. During the afternoons, we would usually be playing outside and my grandfather would be watching us from the porch and we said he would time us and whoever gets the fastest time running laps around the house, wins! He also taught me and my cousin Mackenzie, how to whistle.
He was in all the best memories. He gave the family life and happiness .We had vacations every year that he would pay for and he made sure it was fun. We would visit him at his company, Worldwide Products and would give us the extras of what company’s has left over in their inventory so we got pens, pencils and many other little things. He would pick my little sister, Lilly up from school some days and me and we would go back to his house and eat Eclairs that were always in the freezer without a doubt and Orange dreamsicles. He knew how to make anyone smile no matter how he was feeling.
One day, he got sick; he got very sick. He was admitted into the hospital in and out and on Halloween, we had to visit him to show our costumes off through the window of St. Anthony’s and he acted so happy even when he felt bad. That was one of the last times I was able to talk to him. He died December 9, 2009 from pneumonia . He was a role model to not only me, but to many of my family members as well because he was a very lively, generous and happy person that anyone would have been glad meet.
