About Paddy

Grandpa tending the bar at "J. Gallagher's"

Welcome, dear family and friends you have arrived at "Paddy's Place" where I have storys to tell, photos to share, and music to play.  Sit back, relax, grab a favorite "cold one" and enjoy your visit.Let me start by telling you a little bit about my granddad, Patrick Joseph Spaight. He was  born in a quaint cottage in Derryfadda, County Clare, Ireland. Patrick or "Paddy" as  his friends tagged him was the son of a farmer and spent his formative years much like any other poor Irish lad - working the land, attending school, and working even more.  Then at seventeen years of age,  he decided to move to America like his older brother, Cornelius and his sister, Mary had done years before.  The trip across the Atlantic on the "Celtic" was arduous and at times unhealthy but Paddy finally arrived in Ellis Island safely and with $5.00 in his pocket.I can only assume his first home was on Baltic street in Brooklyn where his sister Mary Spaight lived. This is my first attempt at establishing a blog/website.  Hence  I needed to give it a really cool name.  I wanted the title of the site to both roll off the tongue and to convey a feeling of Celtic ancestry.  Originally I used my given name in the title so this  was plain ol' "Jim's Place".  Indeed, I knew that had to change as I am not particularly fond of my own name.  It's nothing personal, mind you, I feel my name James invites a notion of servitude, like "home, James." "Get the door, James".  I even toyed with the notion of legally changing it from James to Patrick so my moniker would be the same as my grandfather's --Paddy. Now I sign all my cards to my wife, "Paddy" and my brother and his family occassionaly call me by my new name.  Several years passed when Paddy came upon the aquiaintance of Mary Lyons, a young lassie from irish parents.  Mary was working for the inventor, Thomas A. Edison as a cook at the time while her romance with Paddy flourished.   After an altercation with her employer, who demanded she clean his boots, Mary's irish temper took the better of her and as the story goes said "I'm your cook, Mister Edison.  Clean your own God damn   shoes . . " then flung the boots aside. 

Baby Daniel

Paddy and Mary married and as time passed, the young couple became a family of three.  They welcomed their first child into the world and  named him Daniel after Paddy's dad who remained in Ireland.  But although baby Daniel was the apple of their eyes, his time was cut far too short and died of polio at the tender age of three.Their second child, Eddie filled the house with laughter once more then gradually the Spaight family began to grow in size.  The young couple treated Eddie to a baby sister they named Anna and then a brother dubbed  James joined the mix several years after that.  Truly, this was a home of mixed irish blessings.

Anna

Eddie & Jim

Eddie

Paddy's gift of quick wit and storeytelling endeared him to the many patrons of J.Gallagher's, his first employer where he spent many years tending bar.  It wasn't long before he realized his three young children were ready to make important decisions about their own lives.  Eddie, the oldest saw himself as a successful and renouned opera singer. Anna, like her best friend Anne, envisioned  a life of service to the church as a nun, while Jim could not grasp a future without his true love, Muriel.Both Paddy and Mary often gave thanks for their good fortune of having these three loving children.  One day, without notice, this tightly knit clan threatened to come apart by the seams.  Far too many other families began to unravel after their homeland was suddenly plunged into another war.   The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and millions of young men and women rushed to the aid of their country by joining the armed services.  Eddie sidetracked his musical career and felt compelled to enlist in the US Army.  His younger brother, Jim was forced to wait for parental consent before he could also enlist.  But he chose to join the US Naval Reserve and serve on Patrol Torpedo boats with the 7th fleet.  Both brothers eagerly opted to help and they knew much of their youth would be spent in harms way.  However, Anna, while not joining her brothers in service made a commitment to her parents that was equally heroic.  She promised her parents that she would abort her plans to enter the sisterhood until both brothers returned home safely.  She wanted to assure her mom and dad she would marry and bear them grandchildren if the unthinkable happened to Eddie and Jim.Thankfully, Anna never had to take that road into marriage.  She entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Charity a year after her parents welcomed her brothers home from the war.  Anna chose the name Paula and served God and her church as Sister Paula Marie for fifty five years until her passing at the age of ninety. When his boys came home Paddy had already left his job at J. Gallagher's.  He remained in sales but instead of selling drinks he decided to go a different route and sell food.  Paddy became a superintendent in one of "Ralston"s" grocery store outlets.  After a few short years, Jim followed his father's footsteps and worked with him selling food.  Their "people" skills alone led the burgeoning neighborhood to rely on them both as trusted grocers as well as  good friends Muriel was not one to be left out of the Spaight clan.  She entered into marriage with Jim and became Paddy's and Mary's a cherished daughter-in-law.  They adored her. Muriel responded in kind  by  presenting them with their first grandchild, James Patrick.