He's a Prince!
A good man is hard to find, but a prince well, he's easy to spot if
he's driving a hot car!
Hop In!
My mother first met her prince in high school. James Joseph Conlon
Jr. had a car and it was those set of wheels that first turned
Virginia Marie Scully's head. She quickly dropped her then current
high-school heartthrob in favor of a young man who was surely going
places. Virginia hopped into Jim Conlon's passenger seat and the two
took off for what would be the ride of their lives.
Nine Kids
It’s interesting to note that James J. Conlon Jr., my Dad, never
owned a brand new car until he was 75. With nine kids, he always
had to buy used cars and most turned out to be lemons. The car he
bought at 75 was a black, two-door Chevy and Mom drives it to this day
(she’s 82 now). It has a U.S. Marine Corp. emblem in the window, which
Dad proudly placed there when he first bought the car. Mom says people
often stop her and comment on the insignia.
But back in high school, in 1941, James J. Conlon Jr. was a dashing
young prince with a hot car to pick up pretty young damsels.
The story of my mother and father’s courtship runs like a fairy tale.
At least that’s how I imagined it as a little girl. I looked in awe
at their wedding pictures, thinking how beautiful Mom appears in her
white gown with its long train that swirls around her feet. In my
mind’s eye, no woman in the world was ever as beautiful as she.
Mom certainly was the princess that this handsome prince kissed and
awakened from slumber.
World War II Veteran
The way Mom tells it, she and Dad married just seven days after Dad’s
return from the South Pacific, where he had spent three years fighting in
World War II as a United States Marine. Now, in 2006, I have a
veteran memorial that
was sent by president George W. Bush after Dad passed away in 2001.
Dad hated the first president George Bush and didn't like his son either
(as
president), but I think Dad would have really appreciated this tribute
from the U.S. government.
My Mom gave one to each of her children. I recently noticed while
visiting my brother Tom's home that my brother Tom, who loved his father
dearly, has it framed and hanging in his house.
Raised on Chestnut Street
Mom and Dad were married in St. Stephen's Church in Kearny, New
Jersey, by Rev. Vincent Scully. Father Vincent was my Mom's uncle Vincent, her Dad's
(Joseph Bartholomew Scully) brother. Vincent was
one of her Dad's three brothers. He was a monsignor in the Catholic
Church by the time he died, and Mom said that Gramp, my grandfather, was
very proud of him. St. Stephen's Church is just blocks away from where both my parents
were raised on different sections of Chestnut Street, in Kearny. As the story
goes, Mom was the uptown girl, and Dad downtown (the backstreet guy).
Mom married that backstreet guy on January 27, 1945, one of the coldest
days of the year. |