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Biography:
Grace by Marguerite Norgren
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Mary Ann Shea, Grace's mother,
was a very romantic young lady and remained so in spirit right up to her
death at the age of 87. She
admitted setting a trap for Timothy Donovan, the handsomest man in
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, according to her.
After ten years of Mary Ann's flirtatious ways, she finally
became Mrs. Timothy Donovan. She
often remarked in her old age with a twinkle in her eyes: "There
isn't a married man yet who hasn't been helped over the fence by a
woman... You’ll know when you meet the right man, as there will be a
chemical reaction."
Mary Ann was born in Killarney
and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was only
seven years old. She never
had a brogue, but she wrote a little poem of her memories of Ireland:
"Scotland loves the
thistle,
England loves the rose.
But I love dear old Ireland,
Where the pretty shamrock grows."
She had the great gift of the
Irish (she kissed the Blarney Stone) for reciting poetry and what a jig
she could dance!
Timothy, Grace's father, was
born in Fitchburg, the son of Irish immigrants from Cork. Tim was a carpenter and made all the cabinets for the
vestments in the sacristy of St. Bernard's Church in Fitchburg. This fine craftsmanship is a living memorial to him to this
day for he was considered one of the best carpenters in the area.
His family donated the land for the site of the present Holy
Family Convent. Tim and
Mary Ann's daughter, Marguerite, an R.N, entered the Presentation Order,
nursing the sick and elderly nuns for fifty years in the convent built
on the property donated by her ancestors.
Tim's work on the construction
of the railroad, right through the Hoosick Tunnel in North Adams,
Massachusetts, meant that he was away a great deal of the time.
However, even though he was only home on weekends, they managed
to have eight children in ten years!
Thus, on the 7th of March in
1901, Mary Ann gave birth to their fourth child, a beautiful baby girl.
When Tim gazed upon the tiny infant, he remarked that she was
truly a gift of God's Grace. This particular family had a great devotion to St. Joseph and
considered it a privilege to give her his name since she was born in the
month of St. Joseph.
The happy child, Grace
Josephine, loved to run around in her bare feet.
She soon had two little brothers and a sister.
The house on South Street was always buzzing with the laughter of
the seven Donovan children: Marguerite, Edward, Daniel, Grace, John
Leonard, Helen and Tim, Jr. An eighth child, Francis, died in infancy.
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Quite often on Sunday
afternoons, Tim and Mary Ann would take their children to visit Mary Ann's
sister, Margaret Murphy and her family, in the neighboring town of
Leominster. Would you believe
that back in those days, for a nickel the whole family could ride on the
trolley to Leominster, a town five or ten miles away!
Aunt Maggie and Uncle Tim favored Grace not only because she was
their Godchild, but they also admired her innate dignity, her gentle
manner, and her kind ways as well as her cheerful disposition.
Aunt Maggie believed that "a sure sign of wisdom is continued
cheerfulness.” So, Grace
was invited to spend many weekends in Leominster. The Murphy girls were
all very pretty and when Grace, with her freckled speckled nose, would
look in the mirror standing next to them, she would think how plain she
looked compared to them. She would pacify herself by saying, "Pretty is as pretty
does." In later years the very successful and socially prominent
Murphys were all to remark how much she reminded them of their beautiful
mother. When she visited
Herbert Murphy's store twenty years later, he gave her a lovely outfit
including a gray karakul fur coat. Herbert
Murphy was the oldest of the Murphy’s three boys.
Grace had helped Herb during his courtship of one of her best
friends, Frances Hassett, whom he later married, and he wanted to give her
something as a gesture of his gratitude.
It should be mentioned here that Herb and Grace were always playing
tricks on each other. They
both had a keen sense of humor. He
was the source of some of the happiest memories of Grace's youth.
Unfortunately, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 45,
leaving Frances with three boys to raise.
After a visit to their
Grandmother Donovan's, Grace always came home with a colorful array of
hair ribbons which she would neatly press to wear in her hair with her
middy blouses, the style of the times.
She was by nature very neat and clean and loved to admire the
rainbow of ribbons in her drawer.
As a teenager and flapper,
Grace's greatest pleasure was dancing and roller-skating. She always went to the dances or roller-skating rinks with a
group of her girl friends, or her mother.
She particularly liked Whalom Park where she frequently would be
asked to dance by Jim Brack (Fr. Tom Brack's brother). Whenever she danced with him, she felt like she could dance
forever, and she was the envy of all her friends for he was not only the
best dancer, but a very handsome young man indeed.
One time Mary Ann was even able
to get herself and Grace into a dance at City Hall with only one ticket!
She just folded it in half so it looked like two.
Later in the evening she told Grace, “I got you in here, now it
is up to you to get the refreshments." All Grace had to do was smile
at one of the boys and he came running over offering to get them some
refreshments. They were quite
a team, Mary Ann and Grace, and remained so until Mary Ann's death in
1954.
When
Grace was 17, tragedy struck the happy Donovan household. Her father
became extremely ill with cancer of the kidneys.
Her mother worked day and night taking care of him during
his long illness.
When he died at the age of 51, Mary Ann collapsed from exhaustion.
Long after his death, Grace would remember how, during those last
few months, he cried out for relief from the pain.
She knew what it must have taken out of her mother.
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By this time, Marguerite had
completed nursing school and the pastor of St. Bemard's begged Mary Ann to
let her enter the convent. He
said she had the makings of a fine nun as well as a leaning towards this
type of life. Marguerite
became Sr. Mary Dolores. Eddy
was in Normal School. Dan and Grace were in high school.
Grace went to her mother and offered to quit school to help support
her mother and the little ones. Grace was always giving of herself, so
this was no surprise to her mother.
Grace then became one of the
youngest employees of the Arden Mill (Arden Academy, as it was popularly
known by the young ladies who worked there) where her mother's two
brothers, James and John, were employed.
Under their guidance, but mostly their challenging her that she
could never keep up with them, as they knew how competitive she was, she
became one of the best weavers and soon could work a loom as fast as Uncle
Jimmy and Uncle Johnny. More
important, she brought home a salary of fifty dollars a week, which was a
lot of money in 1917. It was
enough to take care of her mother and family in the style to which they
had become accustomed. It
delighted Grace to see her mother's face light up when she turned over
every penny of her earnings.
Uncle Johnny and Uncle Jimmy
always kidded Grace that it was only because of her friendship with
Bernice Fitzgerald, daughter of the manager of the Arden Mill, that she
received such first class treatment. Grace also considered that she was
doing her part for the war effort by
helping to produce the cloth for
Army uniforms.
The biggest social event of the
summer was the Arden Mill picnic attended by all employees and their
families. In addition to Grace's mother, brothers and sisters, other
famous relatives at the picnic included Uncle Johnny, Aunt Eleanor, Cousin
Dorothy Shea as well as Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Rose, Aunt Lou, etc.
A good time was had by Grace and all her relatives and friends.
Another tragedy was soon to
occur in Grace's life when her best girl friend, Bernice Fitzgerald, was
stricken with spinal meningitis. She
died at the age of seventeen while Grace was reciting the rosary at her
bedside. The Fitzgerald’s
were not Catholics, but when Mr. Fitzgerald saw his youngest child
slipping closer to death, he asked Grace to say some prayers.
They all knelt by her bedside with Grace holding Bernice's hand.
Mary Ann was so grateful for
the sacrifices Grace made that she always made sure her daughter had the
most fashionable wardrobe. She
didn't have a large variety of clothes, but what she had was the finest
quality and style. Grace's very stylish cousin Dorothy Shea still talks about
how much she admired the way Grace could carry clothe. "Very chique,"
she'd say. Accessories and
everything were
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Cover Page: 1
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- Family Tree - Photo
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