Michael Cannon Stateside! From Des Herlihy
Fond Memories of Michael Cannon
While Michael’s funeral was a sad occasion, what came across from his sons and his brother Robbie was his great sense of humour. Austin told us a great story about his sister Kitty taking him communion. She went recently and gave him a wafer which was on the small side. He looked at it and said ‘What’s this? The credit crunch?’
Here is a picture of Michael visiting our parents in Manhattan in the early 50s. Da, Mikey and her sisters were very excited about Michael going to New York when he went to sea. His visit would be the first from any Murphy member to Lily since she had left Liverpool in 1947. So excited were they that they wanted to make it a surprise and not tell our parents before he arrived in New York. Aunt Kitty didn’t much like this idea so she wrote a letter telling them Michael was coming. She gave it to Aunt Rose to put in the mail. However, in order to maintain the surprise, Aunt Rose kept it until she was sure that Michael would arrive before the letter and it was only then that she sent it. My parents were very pleased to have him visit. My father took this picture and you can see how happy our mother is to be with her first nephew. Jimmy and Terry are the little dudes.
Timmy O’Hanlon told me that his father, Paddy, helped Michael get his first job. Michael told me that he did it for a while but that it was pretty gruelling. It was on a freighter which took cargo up to Scotland from Liverpool, loaded up with coal from Ayr and then went across to Ireland, unloaded and then loaded up with potatoes to return to Liverpool. He did a number of these trips.
We will miss him.
While Michael’s funeral was a sad occasion, what came across from his sons and his brother Robbie was his great sense of humour. Austin told us a great story about his sister Kitty taking him communion. She went recently and gave him a wafer which was on the small side. He looked at it and said ‘What’s this? The credit crunch?’
Here is a picture of Michael visiting our parents in Manhattan in the early 50s. Da, Mikey and her sisters were very excited about Michael going to New York when he went to sea. His visit would be the first from any Murphy member to Lily since she had left Liverpool in 1947. So excited were they that they wanted to make it a surprise and not tell our parents before he arrived in New York. Aunt Kitty didn’t much like this idea so she wrote a letter telling them Michael was coming. She gave it to Aunt Rose to put in the mail. However, in order to maintain the surprise, Aunt Rose kept it until she was sure that Michael would arrive before the letter and it was only then that she sent it. My parents were very pleased to have him visit. My father took this picture and you can see how happy our mother is to be with her first nephew. Jimmy and Terry are the little dudes.
Timmy O’Hanlon told me that his father, Paddy, helped Michael get his first job. Michael told me that he did it for a while but that it was pretty gruelling. It was on a freighter which took cargo up to Scotland from Liverpool, loaded up with coal from Ayr and then went across to Ireland, unloaded and then loaded up with potatoes to return to Liverpool. He did a number of these trips.
We will miss him.
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posted by DocMurf @ 9:16 PM
2 Comments:
Great Story! Great Picture!
To put a date on the photo, it must be 1950, probably Summer. Manhattan in 1950 - what an exciting place for young Michael Cannon. Terry looks like he is 6 to 9 months old. And I do remember my sailor's cap !
Jim
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