Our Parents And Us Kids
When The Whole Family Was Together
By Mike O'Gara, with help from siblings and other family members
January, 1946. Uncle Hugh, me (probably), Dad, Uncle Jerry.
Everyone home from the war.
Early mom and dad and Mike.
Mom sure looks like Maureen in this one!
I'm guessing my age at about 2-3,
and since there's no Tim in the picture,
I'd guess this is about 1946-7.
Mom and dad and Mike and Tim.
I'd guess about 1949.
Mike & Tim and parents and grandparents.
Same place: I have very faint memories of it.
"Wilton" or "Sawtell" apartments, I think.
Perhaps someone else can remember.
Mom and Dad, me & Tim.
No date on this, but I think it was at the same
"Sawtell" or "Wilton Place" as in another photo.
Tim, Dad, and Mike.
Guessing that I was about 6-7 and Tim about 3-4,
I'd put the date at about 1950-1951.
I don't remember this at all.
3579 Greenfield house. Photo marked 5-10-1950.
About the first home I remember much about.
The house seems a lot smaller than I remember!
Split-level back yard. We had the first dog I can remember, there.
I went to Sharnock (or Charnock?) Road school while living there.
We had a ton of Monarch butterflies in the back alley, every year.
Tim remembers Mom keeping croquet mallets by the back door and
by the incinerator to smash lizards. She didn't like cold-blooded
critters of any kind, but was absolutely phobic about snakes.
Tim also remembers he liked the girl next door.
Tim & Mike in the front yard of the 3579 Greenfield place.
Mike and Tim, May 1951.
I think I saw Tim wearing the shirt I was wearing,
in other photos. There was a lot of "hand-me-down"
going on. Catherine being a girl
kind of messed up the pattern, though.
Mike & Tim playing in the mud.
MAYBE this is the West 81st Street house?
Tim's got one of dad's old army hats on, sideways.
Sept. 1957. Tim had a toy airplane,
Catherine had a doll, I had a toy gun.
Catherine, 1957.
This *may* have been at 5019 Lee Street,
but I think it was the house before that.
A mixture of my siblings and Jerry's kids.
Note: "Jerry"=dad's brother Gerald O'Gara.
I copied this picture from Susan (Sleeth) Mosedale's site.
From her info, the people in the picture are:
Back row: Steve Bobek, James Sleeth, Mike O'Gara.
Middle row: Hugh O'Gara, Cathy Sleeth, Susan Sleeth, Sarah O'Gara, Pat O'Gara, Tim O'Gara.
Front row: Danny O'Gara, Kevin O'Gara.
From left: Granddad, Mike, Catherine, Grandmother, Mom, Tim.
About 1958, I think. The grandparents are mom's parents.
We never knew Dad's parents.
Tim, Catherine, Mike. Maybe about 1958?
I don't know which house this was.
1959.
Tim's arm, Mike, Dad, George Cummings, Catherine.
I think dad was giving me something alcoholic to try.
June 1959. This is definitely the Lee Street house.
It must have been soon after we moved in there.
I remember making popcorn a lot, on that gas range!
On the back porch at Lee Street in Torrance,
in 1959. Catherine says the dog was her first dog,
a cockapoo named "Pepi."
Mom with me & Cathy and her parents. On Lee Street.
Dad with mom's parents.
Photo marking says June 1960.
This was definitely at 5019 Lee Street in Torrance.
The usual suspects, at 5019 Lee St. in Torrance.
April, 1960.
I'd hoped that was a BB gun I'm shooting, since it
appears Cathy is "downrange" of it. But Tim says it's
an old pump-action .22 that he still has. Gak!
I think that was a gun dad found in the garage
of a house we moved into.
For a moment I thought I had 3 legs in the picture,
but it's Tim standing right behind me.
Mom and Catherine, beside the garage at Lee Street.
Sometime in the range of 1959-1963 or so.
Interesting how so many of the old photos came out
out-of-focus or blurry. Just film and simple "box" cameras then!
Tim (below the guy with the white hat.
Sometime in the range of 1959-1964, I'd guess.
Looks like his scout group was leaving/returning from camping.
This was at Lee Street in Torrance.
Mom is holding Maureen, here.
So it would have been about 1962-1963.
Mike & Tim & Catherine & Maureen.
My guess is about 1963.
Tim, Catherine, Mike in the back yard at West Covina.
I don't remember Tim's and my hair being quite like that!
The back of the above photo, in mom's writing.
1964.
From left: Catherine, Tim, Mike, Maureen.
This was in West Covina, in the patio facing the back yard.
I would have been in my 2nd year of college, then. Doesn't look it!
1964, similar to the other "1964" image.
Maureen watering. I think this is in West Covina,
so it'd be about 1964 or so.
Maureen -- all grown up!
She tells me this picture was taken in
the apartment in Lawndale, about 1975-1977.
Dad & Mom. Also taken in their apartment in Lawndale.
Picture of Dad, dated 6-15-1975.
This is also at the apartment in Lawndale.
Oct. 5, 1991, at my son Sean's wedding.
From left: Catherine, Mike (me), Mom, Tim, Maureen.
This was taken at Asilomar on about July 7, 2000.
From left: My son Sean, Mom, my wife Donna, me.
It was a big gathering of the O'Gara/McGrin family.
I was glad mom came -- Catherine and Jay brought her,
and I paid for her expenses. This was the last time
she saw Donna or Sean.
I was so proud to introduce Sean and Donna
to the many relatives who'd never met them.
This is the very last picture I have of my son Sean.
He died that September. It's been a little over
two years since then, and the pain and grief
from that is still often overwhelming for me and Donna.
Maureen and Mom, during mom's visit
to Mo's place in December, 2000.
Maureen & Mom at Lambeau Field in Green Bay,
Wisconsin. She was visiting Maureen in Dec. 2000.
They got to use the "company skybox"
for the company Maureen works at.
Mom really got enthused during the game!
Mom's 84th birthday, in 2001, at Tim's place in Canby, Oregon.
This was the last time mom and all of her kids were together.
We all felt that would be the case, and we were right.
I'm glad we all gathered from around the country for this.
Mom was floating on air the whole time everyone was there.
This was after mom's funeral, in March, 2002.
This was in Tim's house in Oregon.
From left: Front: Sarah O'Gara, Susan Mosedale (aunt Fran's daughter), Maureen.
Back: Tim's daughter Emily, Tim, Cath, Me, Cath's son Steve, Tim's son Kevin.
This was in Tim's place, after mom's funeral.
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