A Father's Day post about our great grandmother

This started out as a post about my memories of Grampie for Father's Day.  You will soon see how far off base I've gone, if you haven't already figured out that Father's Day was last weekend.  I hope all the Dads and Dads-by-proxy out there had a great day.

I received this picture of our great grandparents William Ryan and his wife Katherine Bentley Ryan.  This must have been taken some time before William died in 1934.  I would check on women's fashions for the time period to narrow down the possible date but you can imagine how distracted I would get then!  Perhaps another day......  Anyhow, William died at a hospital in Danvers and I wonder if this might be a picture taken on a visit??

Katherine Bentley Ryan was the daughter of Captain John Bentley, a middle child out of six children.  Her father was lost at sea when she was about 14 and her mother died just 3 years later.  I've often wondered what those years must have been like for that family.  It must have been difficult for all of them and I'm quite sure these experiences impacted their adult lives.

Katherine and William had 9 children; Grampie was 6th in line.  Katherine spent 11 years as a widow following William's death.

Another cousin, George Handran, gave me a packet of papers many years ago originally regarding Katherine's death.  You can see it in the lower left corner above (if you click the image it will become larger and more read-able).  I've included nearly the whole page since it was so interesting to see the article about Cape Pond Ice preparing to harvest the ice that January.  Also included on this page is the notification that the World War II efforts would be requiring "every able bodied young man"--Dad included (though I don't think he was drafted).  Even more interesting is the "Lively Spirit" article about an event held in East Gloucester, which Dad participated in.  George was very pleased to point this out to me.  Dad was 17 years old at the time--I can only imagine how PERT those observations must have been.

Anyhow, Katherine died alone in her upstairs apartment and her son Paul (Grampie) was the one who alerted the firemen for assistance.  The article is mistaken that she was the daughter of William Bentley but otherwise listed survivors accurately.  It was one survivor, her brother Martin, which led me on another merry chase as I was preparing this post.

Of course, I mine such article for names and to make connections.  One name here, Joseph A. Fialho, verified a family connection I had pending.  I've had these articles many years and still find new stuff contained within!  You note that Dad was a pallbearer for his grandmother.  Katherine was buried in a different cemetery than her husband for reasons yet to be discovered (though I have some suspicions).