My Early Life - 3511 W. Fillmore Avenue, Chicago
"My Father had a workroom in the basement of Fillmore Street and he formed a number of things out of pipe. He had a crude ability for woodworking but metal was his forte. I remember him making a wide swing on the second floor porch where we lived. I must have been about three as I could just stand and look out the kitchen window while he worked. This is the earliest memory I have.
"When they built the swimming pool across the street I was about seven. A friend of my Father's was in charge and I used to go over every day and play along the edges of the pool. One day he asked me if I wanted to learn to swim. I greed and he threw me in. I thrashed around and nearly drowned. He had to jump in clothed and pull me out. That ended his interest in me. I still hung around until the job was done but he ignored me. Guess he thought I didn't try.
"Another memory - one day my Father and I took Helen to Garfield Park in he buggy. He was sitting on a bench at the top of a hill while I pushed the buggy. Suddenly the buggy got away and rolled down the his dumping Helen in the pond. My Father raced down and fished her out, ruining his shoes, trousers and the rest of the day. I must have been eight.
"In my first year I went to Our Lady of Sorrows School because they had a bus. I was five but good at spelling because of my Mother's efforts at home before that time. I used to place second in all the spelling bees after a girl who had a lock on first. all through grammar school there always was some girl who would beat me at most subjects, tho I generally was among the top boys.
"My second and third year where at a "German" school a few blocks from home. For some reason my folks didn't like it so fourth, fifth and sixth were at St. Agatha's about a mile from home - where I was baptized. I used to walk there in the morning, back and forth at noon, and home in the P. M.
"It didn't help much, I was still a fat kid. The Jews were just starting to move into the neighborhood. When we walked in orderly class lines from the school to the church they threw pennies out the window and pandemonium developed. After a couple of instances the kids were threatened with eternal damnation if they didn't stay in line so the Jews gave up. We had the B.V.M. sisters who prided themselves on teaching so my seventh and eighth grade3s at St. Thomas Aquinas were a breeze. We had moved to Latrobe Ave. by then.
"To wind up Fillmore Street - Ruth [Rooney] would come to visit from Denver a couple of times a year. Her Father worked for the Santa Fe Railroad so he would get some sort of a deal for his family when he traveled. Ruth was bound to make a gentleman of me: tipping hat, ladies first, men walk on the outside, etc. My Mother was strict on table manners but didn't bother with other things, but Ruth made up for it."
Ruth Rooney and Tom Sullivan, c1910.
From Helen Sullivan McIntyre's Album. Photo entitled "Pals"
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