Roots and wings

Nana and Poppy - September 29, 1913

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.

  , 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.

     September 29, 1963.

When Nana died in 1971, they had been married for 58 years. Not bad for childhood sweethearts turned pioneers.

Happy 1st Anniversary, Ally and Mingo

   Ally and Mingo, September 17, 2005

From Ally - our second guest author...

Wow!  Mingo and I have been married a year...how time flies!  We were married in
Cannon Beach, Oregon with a beautiful sunset and the Pacific Ocean as our backdrops.
Since we met on the softball field, we thought the perfect wedding would involve a
softball game and some brats & beer.  How right we were...what a fun time.  It will
always bring back wonderful memories.

Wedding site, Cannon Beach, Oregon. 

Check out some of the photos.   

Wedding album #1

Wedding album #2

To celebrate our first anniversary, Mingo announced it to 50,000 of our
best friends at the Komen Portland Race for the Cure.  Since I started working for
the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, we've sort of resigned ourselves to the
fact that our anniversary will always fall on Race weekend. 

Well, Mingo made sure we didn't forget during the chaos yesterday.  He arranged to
get a spot on the main stage (I knew nothing) to announce that we were celebrating
our first anniversary.  He called me up to the stage to tell me that he loved me
very much and he gave me a dozen roses!  We got a big round of applause.

Mingo is one of the most thoughtful, caring and loving people I've ever met.  We
love every minute we spend together and I can't wait to spend 50 more anniversaries
with him!

 

Happy anniversary, youse guys.

Happy 38th Anniversary

Renny Renshaw and Mary Ellen Lumianski were married on August 31, 1968 in East Lansing, Michigan.

They met when Mary Ellen was buying a bicycle at Sears.  Renny was her "credit account executive".   He had returned to Michigan State Univsersity to finish college after a 4 year term in the Air Force.  Mary Ellen had just returned to East Lansing to attend Michigan State University.   She had been abroad for several year with her parents who were serving in the Peace Corps in Africa.  (Note:  the Lumianskis were pioneer Peace Corps volunteers.   The first group went to Africa in August, 1961).

It was a beautiful wedding.  Here are some memory snippets.

• The entire Renshaw family drove to East Lansing from Westport, Connecticut, caravanning in serveral cars.  We camped one night.  Whose idea was that?
• We quickly discovered the "simpatico" between the families.  The Renshaws knew that it was the beginning of a long, beautiful relationship when the entire Lumianski family - knowingly - joined in on "so and so is a pig" game at the rehearsal dinner.
• Bob Lumianski was on an active Michigan State recruiting campaign, quizzing everyone under the age of 18 about their intentions for college. 
• Eleanor Lumianski was a wonderful mother of the bride.  She knew just what she wanted when she cautioned the musicians at the rehearsal to play more slowly.  "I have only one daughter.  I want this wedding to last as long as it can!"

Click on comments below to add your memories  or best wishes - for Renny and Mary Ellen.

Today is a perfect day...

...to start this project.  Mary Kay and Downer were married 65 years ago, today - August 30, 1941.  They were married at the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, Florida.  They had their reception at the Pan Am Terminal at Dinner Key, Coconut Grove.  This was also the home to Pan Am, then only 14 years old.

Mary Kay recently re-told me the story of how they met.   

Mary Kay was out with a group of friends for drinks, then off to the Coral Gables Country Club for dinner and dancing.   Downer was at the same happy hour and sent an "ambassador" to Mary Kay hoping that she would agree to an introduction.  Their first conversation was brief - both worked for Pan Am and they each knew of each other's family.

Later, after dinner, Downer - miraculously! Mary Kay says - was at the club where Mary Kay and her friends had gone to dance.  He asked Mary Kay to dance.  She agreed.  Ten months later they were married. 

There are a few stories of their whirlwind romance.  The most vivid is Mary Kay's description of Downer's plane arriving at Dinner Key terminal.  People would gather on the observation deck atop the Dinner Key terminal to watch the Clippers arrive.  It was usually crowded, especially on weekends.  Downer was a flight engineer, flying "air boats" at the time.  His job upon landing was to jump out of the plane onto the wing, grab the buoy with a grappling hook and pull the Clipper into the dock.  Mary Kay remembers that Downer took her breath away every time  he hopped out of the plane.  He was quite dashing  in his uniform, complete with a white silk billowing scarf and aviator helmet. 

The wedding date was determined by a new Pan Am assignment.  Not the last time in their lives that the next chapter would be signaled by a Pan Am assignment.  This time, Downer had to be in San Francisco in early September, 1941.  They had only a month to plan their wedding.    Mary Kay and Downer left the day after their wedding  for a week long cross-country drive/honeymoon.   

Downer bought a brand new car for the occasion - a convertible.   The drive was unremarkable except for sunburns, snow in Colorado (a first for Mary Kay), and some movie footage that we still have.

They settled in Berkeley, California.  Downer flew to Honolulu out of Treasure Island - in San Francisco Bay.  He was in Berkeley when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  He was immediately put on emergency standby alert.  Mary Kay remembers the fears about another attack.  Maybe California? 

No one knew what was going on.  Pan Am only knew that they wanted to get all the aircraft away from the west coast to protect the fleet in the event of another Japanese attack.    All personnel were told to report to the airport at once, in plain clothes.   (Does this sound like September 11?)

Amid the chaos and uncertainty, Mary Kay left the day after the attack -  December 8 - to be with her family in Miami.  Mary Kay, a young bride of 25, travelled alone at a time of national fear and anxiety about war.   She arrived in Miami - 2 grueling days later - where she was warmly greeted by a smiling Downer.   His crew had been assigned to ferry one of the mission critical planes from San Francisco to Miami.   

He soon received his next ssignment - he would be flying war transport out of Miami.   This was a miraculous turn of events for a young couple on the first few days of WWII.  At a time of relatively few soft landings for families, Mary Kay and Downer found their first of many to come.