Travels with Marty
Since the mid-70's, members of my family have been visiting a small farm house in the county of Roscommon, home of my Dad's cousins, the Burkes. Three siblings, Tommy, Annie, and Maggie, lived their whole lives in this farm house, which was also the birthplace of my Dad's great aunt.
My Dad and his cousin Maggie Burke during their first ever visit together in 1976, in front of the Burke home fireplace.
Tommy and Maggie Burke in their front yard, with some of their beloved livestock, probably early 1980s.
Maggie is the only Burke still alive today. I first visited her in 2001 in this house. But now, Maggie lives in a nursing home, and sadly the Burke house is closed up and abandoned. Here's me at the entrance in April 2007.
Peering inside the window, I see the main room where I previously visited Maggie. At left is the peat-burning stove, her only source of heat. All belongings were left the day she went to the nursing home.
Even though she was quite elderly and crippled when I visited her here, she only had chairs to sit on all day. No couch, no recliners. She lived an amazingly simple life that, with the exception of a bathroom and TV, hadn't changed for the decades since her childhood.
Me, in the backyard of the Burke's home. Lace curtains still adorn the windows.
Maggie in 2007. Bedridden, but well-cared for at a county nursing home.
Update: Maggie passed away in 2011, back with her siblings again.
I asked Maggie for parting advice about me and Mary Ann. She said definitely marry her. Happy to say that I took Maggie's advice.