| My father was born in the bush of Australia two centuries ago. His lifetime spanned the invention of just about everything we take for granted today. He was around 13 years old when the Wright Brothers first flew. He didn't live long enough to know his youngest son would become a pilot. |
| My brother and sister live in Virginia Beach, VA. My sister works for the city government; my brother runs a shipping related business. My mother, a former Rockette, danced to the very end. She was a singer and dancer on Broadway, once known as Carmen Cuyler "The Bronx Favorite". She was in Roberta with Bob Hope and sang for FDR in a demonstration of a new technology called television. After my father died she resumed acting on stage. Meanwhile my brother has recently kicked off his wing tips and started painting. Check out his collection. |
| Marie Narelle was born Molly Ryan in Temora, NSW Australia in 1870. When gold was discovered in the area in 1880 and the town was born there was a fundraiser for a Catholic church. At the age of 10 my grandmother sang publicly for the first time. Prospectors threw gold nuggets. By 1898 she had three kids and no use for my drunken grandfather Matthew Callaghan. On her own, with kids in tow, she began her international career as a soprano. She took the name of a famous woman of the Moruya tribe of Aborigines, Narelle, as a talisman. Opting out of the opera scene she stayed true to her Irish roots and became known worldwide as the Queen of Irish Song. She made many recordings with Thomas Edison over a nine year period; purportedly the first soprano ever recorded. The Australian government recently released her own CD that contains songs recorded by Edison dating back to 1905. |
| Marie and her Aussie cousin, contralto Eva Mylott, both wound up living in America, performing together in 1910 in New York City , as well as touring the US together in 1914. They both eventually got married in New York; Marie hosting Eva's wedding in 1917. Marie and her two daughters eventually moved to England, leaving my father behind in New York. I was born in Flushing Hospital in Queens. Most of my life I have had little in the way of extended family, having only a few first cousins who've all lived in Europe. Recently, through the wonders of the Internet , I have reconnected with Eva Mylott's grandchildren and other cousins both here and in Australia, widening my sense of family considerably. Eva's son, Hutton, recently remarried at the age of 83! |
| The summer of 2002 saw Camp Skippy , Home for Wayward Australians born at our house as cousins arrived from Australia and Oregon. Pictured are three of Hutton's daughters; Sheila, Maura and Trisha. I could almost hear Marie and Eva laughing from their lofty perch. |