Stratton Park Message Board

Here is a true story about a young Irish girl and her arrival to the Bronx, quite a while ago. I am not sure if it happened in Stratton Park, but I am relating the story as best as I can repeat it – with a minimal of poetic license. Also, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

For the sake of the story, well will call our subject Bridie.

Bridie arrives in New York and is going to stay with her cousins until she can get her own place. When she arrives, the family is just about to have a Baptism. So, Bridie asks her cousin if there was anything she could do to help. The cousin replies that, since there are so many people staying at the house, and many more were coming up to the apartment for the party, it would be a great help if she could straighten up the place, put all the bedding away, and generally get ready for the party.

So the family leaves and Bridie goes right to work. The cousin comes back from church and the place is immaculate! So she says to Bridie, "I am amazed, the apartment looks wonderful, you really did a great job"!

Bridie says thanks.

The cousin then says, “Bye the way, where did you put all the stuff?”

Bridie responds, “Well, I put all the blankets and all in that grand closet you have”

The cousin says, “What Grand closet?”

Bridie says, “Sure, it’s the one in the kitchen”.


The only thing in the kitchen besides the appliances………the dumbwaiter

Dear Mike,

Good story! When I was going to Ireland for the first time, an Irishman on Beach Avenue told me a story about the "big wind" which hit Ireland every so many years. He was cautioning me to be careful, for you never know when it will come. The last time it hit, he said, a young lad had to tie his mother to a tree to keep her from blowing away. She was cold and asked her son to fetch her shawl, which he did. When he returned, both his mother and the tree were gone!!

-went to Ireland that year by ship and had the most fantastic seven days on the ocean, courtesy of Cunard Lines. It is so exciting to see the shore of Ireland coming into view at Cobh. Such a glorious sight! We had the time of our lives, and neither the "soft" rain or the "big wind" deterred our journey.

God Bless all, especially you and , as the Irish say, "the wife". Best wishes and love from San Antonio to the Bronx.

Mary Griffith-Bothe (Beach Ave, and St. Anthony's)