1942. A Note From Aunt Vera

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of my mother. She is in the center

 with her sister Vera and friends at Finnegan's Bar.

Recently I found a letter from Aunt Vera with notes on the picture. No date to the letter, but perhaps in the early 1980s.  I'd sent her a photocopy and asked her to tell me about it. She identified most of the people and the event. I've spelled Grace and George Gerard's names wrong on this key---only one R.

"It's sometime in 1942---Jimmy Cooney was drafted and it was a good bye/good luck party. We had dinner etc. at Friede's in Smiththown, then came back to Finnegan's. There were more guys at the dinner. I know Turk O'Brien was there, probably the man behind George Gerard.

Guess your father took the picture
Jimmy and I are the only ones left in that front row....Mae was a friend of your mothers---a co-worker in AT&T. She and your mother became pregnant at the same time, after many years of marriage.

You're right about our having it made. [I must have admired the man/woman ratio in the group.] All the guys were from Halesite Golf Course. Cele and I were the only girls in the crowd who played golf regularly.
Tom Berry was next to be drafted. Grace Gerard owned the golf course. George, her husband, was the pro and manager."

She couldn't recall the name of the man at far right but wrote that he was a "steady customer in Finnegan's Tap Room, Wall St., Huntington."

See another post about Vera, Finnegan's and this photo by clicking here:
http://mcnallyfamilyalbum.blogspot.com/2009/10/aunt-vera.html

Cousin Lorraine said she had dinner at Finnegan's a few months ago.

Freida's in Smithtown burned down a long time ago.