Whittling Wonders

We lived in New Haven, Conn., during the mid-to late-1940s. My three brothers and I were first-generation Americans, children of Irish immigrants. Our dad came to the States in 1928 to raise money to bring my mother here right in the middle of the Great Depression. Several years later, they were the parents of three boys and one girl—me!

I was my father’s shadow, although a great bond with him