Person:Mary Conley (17)

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Pat Chatham began living with her grandparents when Mary O'Connell was 52 years old and Pat was only 2 1/2. She was Pat's "mother," since Pat was placed in foster homes at a very young age, and later was taken in by her grandfather and grandmother. They were the only parents she knew. Mary lead a happy, fulfilling life as a child. Her parents were well-educated, her father a physician and her mother a product of classical training. She and her brother, Montrose, were the last of eight surviving children. Her sister, Rosaline (who Pat called "Aunt Beanie") lived with them even though she was 16 years older. Mary was once engaged to President Eisenhour's father-in-law, John Dowd. She apparently broke off the engagement when she found out that Dowd was dishonest. He was later indicted for selling swamp land in Florida. Dowd gave her a small gold watch that is still in the family. Her husband's position with the railroad allowed for life's niceties. Mary went to Chicago to shop for next season's wardrobe at Marshall Fields every year. They built a nice home at 403 Story Street in Boone, Iowa, which still exists there. Pat remembers the fun playing on the screened porch during summer days. Mary's sister, Rosaline, lived with them until her death when Pat was in her second year in college. Her uncle Carroll and her "mother" lived there alone until Carroll's death in 1966. Her cousin, Dr. John Conley, made arrangements to have her relocated to a rest home in Madrid, six miles from Boone, Iowa. Six weeks after she took up residence there, she called and said that she had moved back to Boone. It seemed that she did not want to live with" all those old folks!" She spent the next four years of her life living in a suite at the Hotel Holst in Boone. The hotel gave a reception in her honor on her 92nd birthday and half the town turned out to celebrate with her. During her life, she wrote several poems, catchy little humorous verses, that were often printed in the Chicago Tribune, and won her several prizes. Pat has only admiration for her grandmother's inner strength during those many times of great adversity.