HEFFERNAN – LYONS. Former E Weymouth man, now a resident of Florida, weds well-known young woman of Quincy.
Wedding announcement, 1913.
Lillian Lyons (Nana) and Dave Heffernan (Poppy) met while he was attending law school at Northeastern in Boston. At that time, he was also working Cunard Lines and happened to sail to Miami which he loved. He moved there immediately. When he finished his law studies two years later, he wrote his marriage proposal in a letter, returned to Boston, and returned to Miami with the former Lillian Lyons.
M. Lillian Lyons, 1913. Engagement photo (age 26)
This was quite a move. In 1913, Miami was so young - the total population was only 1,500. Nana told me one time that her family thought that alligators roamed the streets of Miami. Between their two families, there were 12 siblings. Nana and Poppy were the only ones to leave the Boston area.
They prospered and grew along with Miami. They also worked hard to help build their community. In addition to Poppy’s career in law, both Nana and Poppy were very active in the civic and religious growth of Southern Florida – they were founding members of the Knights of Columbus, the Elks St Vincent de Paul Society (President of the Chapter for over 20 years), Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce and Catholic Daughters of America, to name a few.
Poppy started out as an attorney practicing law. He was the first Catholic to enter legal practice on the east coast south of St Augustine. In 1925, he was appointed Judge of the Dade County Police Court. (According to family legend, he was on the "red light" beat.) He was appointed Judge of the Civil Court of Record from 1937 until his retirement in 1959.
His first appointment to the court in 1925 was controversial because Poppy was Catholic. It took active support and involvement of John Martin, then governor of Florida, for Poppy’s appointment to be approved. In a letter to Poppy on his retirement, former Governor Martin said it was one of the best decisions he had ever made and he was quite proud for it.
Starting a family brought sorrow as well as joy. They gave birth to 8 children, only 3 survived. The 5 died near birth, victims of the Rh factor - generally, incompatible blood types between mother and fetus. They were called "blue babies". Mary Kay recently told me the story of the last child's death. Mary Kay must have been about 10. She and Poppy were leaving the hospital after visiting Nana. Poppy just sat at the steering wheel and sobbed while Mary Kay looked on, helpless. The cause of this condition and a cure was finally discovered in 1940. This condition is now very rare.
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The Heffernans, 1924 and 1942.
They raised three children - Mary Kay Renshaw, Father David Heffernan and Paul Heffernan. Mary Kay describes her childhood as that of "a spoiled, Irish daughter". Mary Kay assumes that they were somewhat insulated from the Great Depression because Poppy's job was secure. Mom remembers that they shared their good fortune with others in the form of service, donations and many people over for dinner often.
In September, 1963, Nana and Poppy celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary the way they did many other things – surrounded by family and friends, with great joy and enthusiasm.
When Nana died in 1971, they had been married for 58 years. Not bad for childhood sweethearts turned pioneers.
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