A FACE IN THE CROWD

the toddler with the round head above all the rest (top right) is me, my brother Robert next to me and other siblings and cousins and neighborhood kids on Hixon Place in South Orange NJ 1943

me in my mother's arms among siblings, cousins, aunts, and my grandmothers Lally (from Ireland, far left) and Dempsey (on my mother's right side, she would move in with us for the rest of her life a few years later), and great Aunt Allie (in glasses next to grandma Lally, Aunt Allie lived with us for several years before she passed, and was a book buyer for a department store, introducing me to books with gifts she gave me on birthdays and Christmas) South Orange NJ winter of 1943-4

I'm the one pointing, on a visit to my oldest brother at a Franciscan place in Northern NJ, with my parents and some siblings, and my Aunt Ethel (third in from the right standing), whom I adored but who intimidated me with her stylishness and quick cutting wit, and her husband and kids, c. 1949

me bottom left next to my sister Irene, and cousins Kathi, and Micki, behind us cousins Rod (AKA John), Rosemary, and sister Joan, behind them my mother, Aunt Peggy, and Aunt Rose, Belmar NJ c. 1950

me with cowboy hat hanging down my back, my sister Joan directly behind me, and cousins MaryLynn and Micki behind me to my right, and other family members, South Orange NJ c. 1950

same time and place as above but with my next door cousin David in front of me and our dog "Blackie" in my sister Joan's arms

me in flannel shirt down front with my sister Irene (in green) behind me, next to our cousin Rosemary (who often stayed at our house as her father had passed and her mother worked) and my sister Joan (in black) and our mother to my right with my uncle John behind her and the boarder in our house, Jack, behind him and three of my aunts and both grandmothers, South Orange NJ c. 1951

very tan me at lowest point in this photo beside my dad and brother Robert, with my mother,, sister Joan, grandmother Dempsey, brother Campion (AKA Tommy or Father Campion), and sister Irene, Belmar NJ c. 1951

me in back in floral shirt, my three brothers to my right, "Father" Campion, "Buddy," (AKA Jimmy), and Robert leaning down over his wife "Sis" (AKA Marie), Buddy's wife Catherine holding baby Cathy, my mother Irene behind her, next to her mother, my sister Joan (in pixie haircut) down front, sister Irene (to distinguish them the clan and neighborhood referred to my mother as "Big Irene" and my sister as "Little Irene"), and our father, James (AKA Jimmy), South Orange NJ 1955