At the age of 13, Charles Marcellus Finnigan, the eldest of seven children, lost his mother and with his father a traveling railroad conductor, Charlie took charge of the family's seven siblings.  Despite the loss and family duties, Charlie graduated from the Buffalo Technical Institute and began a career as a service engineer with the NY Telephone company that would last 30 years  

With Marie's passing, Charlie fought to protect the unity of the family and enlisted day to day help of his family, friends, teachers, Pastor and a court judge. Charlie taught his children how to deal with fear and emptiness through kindness toward each other, their friends and teachers. He replaced idleness with study, reading, projects, games, housework, shopping, cooking, visiting and travel,  He fostered competition to be the best they could be in the family, schools, colleges and their vocations.  

 It was easy to see what was going through Charlie's mind.  The grief of losing Shelia and Marie, the worry of a large family, the emotional impact on himself, the older boys and the young children.  Housekeeping, school schedules, summer vacations, illnesses, injuries, on and on; the challenge of raising seven children!  In fact,  Charlie has dismissed many of these thoughts on a long ride he took by himself following the funeral and burial services.  

Years later when asked how he was able to deal with such adversity, he would answer, "The mind is capable of rationalizing anything, all it needs is time." What Charlie is thinking about is how to insure a successful outcome for his family.  

He knows from his personal experiences following his Mother's death that idleness is the devil's workshop and that creating rules, giving assignments, checking performance, rewarding performers and punishing non-performers, as difficult as it can be, is the only way to instill the discipline needed to give each child a reasonable chance of success in life.  He believes that he can provide the positive direction and encouragement and a level of emotional support equivalent to or possibly better than families fortunate enough to have both parents.

Non stop Charlie.... Busy, Busy, Busy...

Dad was always busy!

First he would manage the family.... actually micro managed the family! He taught that God put us here to do things.... so the family will do things.!  But anything they do, they will do it right or don't do it al all.!  An aside from the necessities of life, which are listed on the assignment board on the dining room wall,  there should be a reason for doing things. Rveryone should have a reason for joining or helping to do things, be it meeting new friends, having fun or enjoying treats (Dad always followed his own rules)

Dad went grocery shopping on Saturday morning at Saunders in Eggertsville across from St Benedict's church. He always took the younger kids with him which gave the older boys a chance to visit friends and play ball or whatever.

On the way home they stopped at Cunningham on LeBrun Road for milk, eggs and chicken (killed and feathered while we waited). When they got home the younger kids carried all the groceries to the kitchen or the food pantry in the basement where there was  place for everything and they put everything in its place.

Also on Saturdays, they did the wash in the basement washing machine.  A load of whites, a load of colored and a load of everything else.  The assignment board in the dining room showed who did what.  In winter they hung the wash in the basement to dry,  In summer they hung it all out in the back yard.

Dad belonged to the men's club at Christ the King. He took a leading roll in managing the church and school.  Dad went to weekly meetings with Father Mooney and his board members and never missed weekly bowling meets.  The family went to early mass on Sunday mornings and after mass went to visit Grandpa Finnigan, arriving at 11 sharp without fail. After that they often went to visit Mother Ludwina at Stella Niagara.  Sometimes they stopped by to visit Uncle Walter and Aunt Deloris and their 12 kids.  Once in a while they stopped to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Adeline who had no children and lived in a small house.

A couple of evening each week, Dad made house calls with Dr Gustina.  Dad                          helped with bandaging or giving shots or meds, getting things from his car and carrying things out when they left.  Dad learned how to care for our family for simple things so he only needed  Dr G, for more serious cuts or coughs.

Shortly after Mother died Dad set up a wood working shop. He bought a Della saw, drill press, lathe, jig saw and many hand tools.  Dad spent many hours in the shop turning bowls, making boxes, lamps, plant stands and many other items, many of which he gave to his family.  He turned salad mixing bowls with individual serving bowls for the Gustina's, Horan's, Cunningham's and other for the help they gave to our family.  Dad made custom frames for the paintings that Grandpa Jacobs made and sold in his religious goods store. Each of kids have at least one of GJ's paintings and the paintings that Dad made in his retirement.  And Paul is still making the same things that Dad made with the same tools that Dad bought in 1938.

Weather permitting, Dad was out using a sigh to cut down all the high weeds along side our property.  Or planting, watering or harvesting vegetables from our garden along side the garage, usually with plenty of help.  We had an annual canning day(s) to put up fruits and vegetables and place them in the food cellar where it was cool year round.   Dad organized picnic for Grandpa, Aunt Mae and his brothers for Sunday night dinners.  Other weeks they went to the Horan's for picnics  at there home with their 10 kids or the Gustina's for their 6 kids. 

Dad was a walker!  After his fall from the roof, he walked almost every day sometime several miles to the Buffalo airport and back.  He never walked alone because we loved to sit at the end of the runway and watch the planes from the Curtis Wright plant taking off or landing.  We also loved the ice cream cones or candy Dad stopped  and bought us on the way home.

The familyalways took a family vacation in the summer.  They took shorter trips to places like Lake Placid, or far away places like Nova Scotia.  Dad would stop along the road when kids were selling hand made toys like sail boats and trinkets.  We each got to choose something we liked.  Dad kept a diary and when we got home we all had to contribute our experience to the trip reports he wrote.   

 Last  Dad was always a car fanatic, he had Ford Model A for he and Marie and traded for 4 door Buick sedan to fit the family which the boys fought over for washing rights. After WWII he bought a 1949 Ford Coupe which he kept 1 year and traded for 1950 Buick Special, then a Studabaker coupe he drove to California and where he bought a 1955 Austin Healy sport car and toured the coast and the Sierras.  Dynamite!

Dad was Non-Stop!  He was always busy going or coming, doing things and encouraging us to do things,  model airplane, puzzles, coloring books, novels, (no comic books)  

No one in our family ever had trouble going to sleep at night.  We were all worn out by the time we kissed Dad on his cheek and went upstairs to bed!