Part III

This is apparently a conversation the day before my mother’s funeral in March/April, 1994.]

 

[Transcriptionist’s Note:  The speakers appear to be Jim, his friend Steve, Marianne, Father O’Malley and another woman not identified.]

 

J:How you doing?

 

S:I’m doing okay.  Yeah.

 

J:It’s wonderful for you to be here.

 

S:Yeah.

 

J:You gonna get lost getting back?

 

S:No, no, no.

 

J:See it’s clearing up.

 

S:Fine, beautiful, beautiful.

 

J:Yeah.  Thanks for being here.

 

S:You’re more than welcome.

 

J:For my mother

 

S:I’ll say a little prayer.

 

J:Okay. 

 

J:So, this is just about at the end of this particular part of ...

 

S:Yeah.  Yeah.

 

J:Yeah.  So, I’m sorry that, uh, there wasn’t  more time.  Want to see pictures of me growing up?

 

S:Yeah.  Did you grow up in this town?

 

J:Yeah.  This is my mom and dad.  That’s me as a little altar boy.  That’s me in the tub.  There’s me with my dad.  A big lobster.  Used to go up to a farm in Schuylerville with my Aunt Anne and Uncle Bob.  This is my dad and his brother.  There’s Aunt Annie [name].  Our first dog, Laddie, used to sort of take us around.  That’s Jim and Jimmy.

S:Um, huh.

 

J:And, let’s see, me on my dad’s back.  Picture of my mom’s wedding.  This is my brother Eddie.  Where’s Eddie?  I’m not sure where he is.  There he is, right there.

 

S:Right there, okay.

 

J:You can see he’s a little angelic fellow.

 

S:Yeah.

 

J:And, this is my mom.  And, had lots more hair than [inaudible].

 

S:Yeah.

 

J:Here’s me with a goatee, you might not want to look at that.  Back to the house, okay.  There’s my niece.  Here’s my mom as a young girl.  Here’s my house.  And, this is Donna’s mom.  It’s my Aunt Kathleen who used to dance in a – this is my house and my son running around for an Easter egg hunt, we used to have every year.

 

S:Oh, yeah.

 

J:This is my – this is my dad and my son Matthew.

 

S:Did you go to Sacred Heart School?

 

J:I went to, uh, St. Joseph’s and, uh, I went to, uh, BC High.  This is Steve Lord, this is my sister Marianne.

 

S:Hi.

 

M:What’s your last name?

 

S:Lord.

 

M:Lord.

 

J:Lord.  Right.  Works with me and Bradley.

 

M:Oh, thank you for coming all this way, it’s wonderful.

 

S:Sorry, I couldn’t have gotten here earlier.

 

M:That’s okay, you’re here.  That’s the important thing.

 

J:That’s a Steve Lord kind of saying. 

M:It is, huh, well, I don’t see – I just knew that instinctively.  What do ya know?

 

J:Okay, see you tomorrow.  Thanks for being there.

 

M:I’m trying to find [inaudible].

 

J:There’s pictures on the other side, too.  And, uh, that’s my mother’s father.  That’s my dad.  Yeah, that’s my dad.  I think so, that’s nice.  This is the clan – this is my mother with – not that anybody in this family ever pulls pranks.  Not too long ago now, that’s ...

 

[inaudible]

 

J:Right.  And, this is my brother, Eddie, and I.  And, this is, uh – you can see, there’s a little bit more hair here.  And, uh, I had, uh – I’m not sure whether it’s Eddie or I with my dad having a – here are the boys. 

 

M:Jim, do you [inaudible]

 

J:No. 

 

M:I remember putting it up.

 

[inaudible background conversations]

 

J:Well, Pat was up earlier tonight and Dan [name] and Mary [name] came earlier, so ...

 

S:So, you’re halfway?

 

J:Halfway to Cancun.

 

S:Cancun?  Spent the night in an airport or something?

 

J:I spent a half a day in the airport. [inaudible]  It’s Irish, I think.  I said, Ma, I gotta go for a couple days, she says, I’m not gonna wait in this kind of thing for this kind of stuff.  Since you’re not gonna be here, I’m going to ...  [My mother, Clare McGuire, was dying as Jim McGuire, my brother, was going to a conference in Cancun, Mexico.  So, I think this is around March 1994, the month my mother died.]

 

S:She was sick.

 

J:Yeah, she was very, very sick – so, it’s okay, you know.  It’s actually, uh, these last two years have just been real difficult anyway, with the hospital and with, uh, changes and with, uh – but, uh, I think this is a new time.  Thanks for being here.  Let me give you a hug.

 

S:Bless you.

 

J:I am blessed.  I am.  Yeah, in spite of everything, I’m ...

 

S:In spite of everything?

 

J:Well, maybe to spite everything ...

 

S:That, too.

 

J:Is your mom alive?

 

S:My mom and dad are alive.

 

J:Yeah.

 

S:And, uh, you know, they’re both fairly healthy, for their age, so ...

 

J:Enjoy them.

 

S:Yeah.

 

J:And, take pictures.

 

S:I take a lot of pictures, never get ‘em developed.  Bad habit.

 

J:Well, that can change.

 

S:They just had a 50th wedding anniversary for them.

 

J:Yeah.

 

S:Last January, so, that was a nice thing.

 

J:I’ll bet.  Yeah.

 

S:Yeah, my dad, uh, I think my dad’s in better shape than I am.

 

J:Is he working?

 

S:No, he’s retired, but he works.

 

J:Yeah.  If you could retire and do what you want to do, you’d be in better shape, too.

 

S:That’s for sure.  That’s for sure.

 

J:I mean, uh, I gotta get in better shape, but, uh, I’m – it – I, I never thought, um, I never thought that, uh, there wouldn’t be a time where I wouldn’t feel like exercising, but, uh, that’s six months a year and I do my forum, which has really been a God-send, but, uh, real hard to go out there and do something.

 

S:Yup.

 

J:Bradley’s not in the happiest of places.

 

S:Nope.  He’s not.  You’re right, I’m trying to – I try to take better care of myself because ...

 

J:Going to start to walk to work.

 

S:That’s a good idea.  I was thinking about that, uh – what day was it this week that was gorgeous? 

 

J:Yeah.  It was, uh, Monday – Tuesday, right.  Tuesday. 

 

S:It’d be good to start walking.

 

J:I said, God, I don’t have to go down to the Caribbean, I’ve got it right here.  But, then [inaudible] came back.  So, I’ll take a vacation some other time.  I just needed to get away from the place.  This is a different way to get away.  It’s been a lot of fun putting these pictures together.  You have to understand how rich your life is whether you think it is or not or how rich my life has been whether I think it is or not.  So, there’ve been lots of outdoor parties and lots of people playing together and lots of, uh, lots of people caring about one another.  Thanks for being part of the family.  Do you want to meet people or do you want to ...

 

[inaudible]

 

J:Well, I’ll see you Tuesday. 

 

S:Yes, um, were you due to come back on Tuesday originally?  Is that right?

 

J:Right. [laughing] Well, I try, I try to plan these things, you know. 

 

S:Well, I miss you.

 

J:Well, good.  This has been good, this has been good, uh, and tomorrow there’ll be lots of cribbage games and, uh, I had this with Father [name] when, uh, he was here just so I would get his – I want to remember my, uh --  [the volume changed here – distant]  This priest is a man I love and, uh, and he was a blessing my life.  This is Mike O’Malley, this is Steve Lord.

 

O:Hi, Steve.

 

S:How are you doing?

 

J:Steve works with me and actually has taught me a lot.

 

S:Oh, thanks for coming out.

 

J:So, were you down at Bradley’s?

 

O:Bradley’s

 

J:Well, he’s a Bradley, whether it’s connected with – it is connected with Brad, but it whether it really is connected with Brad is a question.  Well, in this date of mucho-politicos ...

 

O:Do you live down in, uh, Province?

 

S:Yeah.

 

O:That’s great.  My old girlfriend lived down here.

 

J:She’s your old girlfriend, right?

 

O:Exactly.

 

J:But, now, you can talk about her.  He’s, he’s, uh, Mike O’Malley of Nickelodeon’s guts.  If your kids watch T.V.

 

S:Yeah.

 

J:That’s Mike O’Malley.

 

S:Oh.  Hey.

 

J:Hey.  [lots of noise – moving recorder – background chatter]  It’s been a wonderful time.

 

We’ve all had a wonderful time today.

 

J:Well, she said, she’s gonna step in and be the next mother, right?

 

The next what?

 

J:Mother, right.  In Africa, in Africa, you have your first mother and then your second mother.

 

Well, am I going to be first, second or third?

 

J:I think right now, you’re probably going to have to be first, right?

 

I moved right up there all ...

 

[moving recorder noises]

 

J:Let’s call Molly.

 

Is Molly here?

 

[moving recorder noises]

 

J:Just Brad.

 

So, what are we gonna do here?  I have no idea.

 

J:Actually, the situation is this, you’ve taken very good care of this, you do what you think needs to be done.

 

Well, uh ...

 

J:I thought that to have, have Marian’s dad, Jim and Mary Cudahy do this.

 

[name].  I already asked [name].

 

J:Yeah.

 

But, I haven’t tried – I didn’t see Jim and Mary, if I don’t call them, there’s no way they’re going to be here and know that [inaudible].

 

J:So, they’re at the Sheraton Tara.  Can I use your phone to call them there?

 

Sure.

 

[moving around noise & background conversation]

 

[Making phone call]

 

J:Which Sheraton Tara do you have to ...

 

Uh, Sheraton Tara Hotel.  Yes.

 

[long pause]

J:Yeah,  I would like to speak with Jim Cudahy.  He’s staying at the Sheraton Tara with Mary Cudahy.  C-U-D-A-H-Y.  Hold on for a minute.  [aside] How do you spell Cudahy?

 

C-U-D-A-H-Y.

 

J:C-U-D-A-H-Y.  You have no – this is the Sheraton Tara over the, the [name]?  Okay, you have no Jim and Mary Cudahy?  Okay, thank you.

 

[background conversations]

 

Okay, let’s forget Jim and Mary, they’re going to be in their own car.  See when I originally had talked to Aunt Mary, Mary and John, Fred and Larry and Virginia were going to be the first car after the limousine.

 

J:Yeah.

 

Now, if we could leave it that way ...

 

J:Right.

 

... or when they get here, we can, you know, they – would Mary and Fred like to go in the limousine?

 

J:Right.

 

But we haven’t told them that, I think ...

 

J:Let’s just go with ...

 

... go the other way.

 

[moving around noises]