April, 2001 - 102nd Birthday of Johanna O'Sullivan Gordon
Johanna was born in Balyneanig on the Dingle Peninsula County Kerry April 24th 1899 to John and Ellen Sullivan. There were five sisters and seven brothers. Her rothers attended University College Dublin and Trinity College. Three of her brothers lost their lives and her mother was shot and died from her wounds during Irelands War of Independence.
Her father John when she was 21 years and after the above atrocities put Johanna and her sister Eileen on a boat at Dingle and motored and rowed them around the Kerry Cork Coast to Cobh. From there they sailed to America arriving at Ellis Island June 20th 1920.
Johanna went on to Boston where she was a model at Marshal Fields Department Store and it was here she would meet her future husband a clothing designer from France “He told me to smile and I said what do I have to smile for I was so lonely for home “ They got married June 16th 1924 and had three boys and three girls. She knew luxury for a time and then the Great Depression brought ruin. They had thousands in the bank but the banks closed the doors and their money was gone. Her husband died in 1936 and she was on her own. Her home burned down and she began shoveling coal for 10$ a ton and doing other jobs to put bread on the table. Her faith was tested one day when she walked onto a Lake Michigan pier and considered jumping into the frigid water. “ I slipped on the ice and thought what am I doing here I went back to the house put newspapers on the fire and was so happy to see my children sleeping. “When my husband only 37 went out of my life I thought I would die “
She decided to farm the children out so the girls were sent to a convent in Chicago and the boys to Father Flanagans Boys town in Omaha.
When she thinks of the past she also remembers good times. Johanna knew Rev. Edward Flanagan founder of Boys Town and Rose Kennedy and the great Irish tenor Count John McCormick.
On her 100th birthday Dr. Barney Brady The Honorary Consul of Ireland Nevada presented Johanna with a citation from Irelands President Her Excellency Mary McAleese and on her 101st birthday Marge Brady presented her with a bronze replica of Annie Moore the first emigrant through Ellie Island January 1st 1892.
On the 24th of April Johanna will reached 102 and “ will have lived long enough to see peace in her homeland , the rise and fall of the Soviet Empire, to have seen horse drawn carts evolve into autos and then space vehicles. Preparations for her 102nd are in place and she will remember the green hills of Kerry her mother at the spinning wheel and the farm she was raised on.
It is the faces of her 87 living descendents including 37 great grandchildren and 6 great great grand children that bring her the most joy.
“God gave me the strength to carry on” Johanna said “Leave it to God. We are all in His hands”
