I Remember Papa

 

Today Papa Callan would have turned 102. His birthday always arrived close to St. Patrick’s Day—very apropos for a man who was one hundred percent Irish.

My father never forgot his heritage. Right up until his dying day, he would rail against how King James had taken it upon himself to “civilize” the pagan Irish--stomping into the Emerald Isle, looting their property, leaving our ancestors homeless and starving. Papa Callan made sure I remembered the story and if I should forget then there was The Clancy Brothers singing songs of rebellion every Sunday afternoon on WEUR’s Irish Hour.

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We all sang along with Tommy Makem, the godfather of Irish music:

They routed the redcoats through old Castlebar!

The volume turned up so high, you might think that British had invaded our suburban house and set up camp just down the hallway--readying the troops for an attack on our kitchen where King James had plans to ransack my father’s secret Halloween candy stash, (purchased for half price the day after Halloween, as was his habit.)

He was thrifty, Papa Callan. We heard the stories of the Great Depression--how he lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with his five brothers and sisters and his parents. How in the 1920’s they had no refrigeration and ice was delivered by truck, three times a week. How his mother woke up at dawn each morning, sliced carrots and potatoes, added a little meat if they had any, layered this into a cast iron pot to stew for the entire day in the fire place in the kitchen.

He believed in magic, my father. He welcomed the wee folk who lived in the tree hollows. At age seventy, he arranged stones in a circle to build a faerie fort in his backyard. And of course, he loved the trees. When a local developer decided to cut down the woods, Papa Callan joined the fight to save them.

Castlebar? Connecticut? What’s the difference! It’s a fight! Papa Callan was ready.

Call in the Clancy Brothers!

Creative Friends—Cherish your family stories and hold fast to your unbridled imagination. Raise a glass today for Papa Callan today, wherever he might be.

Love,

Jamie