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!

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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.