Person:Catherine O'Brien (17)

Sponsors were Stephen O'Brien and Anne Maroney Catherine was better known as Katie to her family and friends in her younger years and Kate in her later years but secretly wanted to be called Cathy. Katie married Jerry Fitzgibbons when she was just 17 years old and Jerry was 22 years old. Kate had four girls. The first two died shortly after birth. Oldest daughter Joan remembers how her mother always tried to make Christmas special. She said " I remember going to bed Christmas Eve with no decorations at all in the house and waking up to a magic Christmas wonderland. The tree would be all decorated and I know Mom and Dad had to be up into the wee hours of the morning. On Christmas Day we would get all dressed up in our new clothes pt on he mountain of winter clothes and walk up our very long street with a shopping bag of presents, to catch the trolley car to see Grandma Molly my most favorite person. My Mom would take us to Grandma's every weekend and they always make bread. I had my own special loaf pan. Mom and Grandma would make jam, bread, and chili sauce. I'll never forget the wonderful smells that went through the house and all the finger licking samples I got. I guess, I'm the luckiest of all the grandchildren because Grandma died when I was 8 years old but, old enough to remember her, my sister Carol was only 4. Mom kept the family together as there were some very hard times in our lives. During the was she worked for a while. Mom was always close to her brothers and sisters. She was always there for them and made sure we grew up knowing our cousins. As kids we always rode the trolley cars and later the uses. My mom never learned to drive, so getting there was never easy. Family was always important to my Mom and I guess it made quite an impression on me because family is what I live for. Later after Carol and I got married, she went back to being a telephone operator. That's what she was doing when she met my father. I am pretty sure she said she meet my Dad at a dance. They were married 35 years before they separated and they never divorced. My mother's health became worse and in 1972, she came to live with my family in Hazelton, PA. It was my turn to give her the love and the care she gave to me and my family when I was so sick for so many years in the 1950's and 1960's.

O'Brien Kate 1910-1975 http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=506febe7-b5f6-4311-bfa4-17f4209bf8bd&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232483

O'Brien, Aunt Kate & Joan http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=d3d3b705-4e3a-4719-b55d-5b45c2972312&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232483

11-11-2008_009 http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=2d09a6e1-3d80-4e16-b223-628b7dc6fe7e&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232483

John may Kate O'Brien Sept 1962 http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=e4e93b31-2159-4775-861c-6c7c56a0eec7&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232483

11-11-2008_005 http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=8050da1e-3ddc-4f48-8def-f7c0b8bae902&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232483

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 on roll 323 (Chicago City.Original data - United States)
   Year: 1920; Census Place: Buffalo Ward 4, Erie, New York; Roll: T625_1100; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 37; Image: 268.

   Birth date: abt 1910Birth place: New YorkResidence date: 1920Residence place: Buffalo Ward 4, Erie, New York _APID: 6061::75641235

   http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=1920usfedcen&h=75641235&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2008.Original data - Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security)
   Number: 060-22-3509; Issue State: New York; Issue Date: Before 1951.

   Birth date: 22 Oct 1910Birth place: Death date: Apr 1975Death place: Conyngham, Luzerne, Pennsylvania, United States of America _APID: 3693::19491611

   http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=ssdi&h=19491611&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626)
   Year: 1930; Census Place: West Seneca, Erie, New York; Roll: 1437; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 472; Image: 709.0.

   Birth date: abt 1911Birth place: Residence date: 1930Residence place: West Seneca, Erie, New York _APID: 6224::27681906

   http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=1930usfedcen&h=27681906&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt