After her son Ted died in 1957, she bought a home in Nashville on Tyne Blvd from an Air Force Colonel Wright and moved there

Grandson William Xavier Andrews:

"My introduction to the passions of the evolution debate occurred one day while I was playing scrabble with my maternal grandmother, a retiring and gracious lady who had taught chemistry at St. Joseph's Academy in Green Bay. When during our competition I casually asked her if she believed in evolution. I half expected her to parrot my parents. "No one can convince me," she declared with a passion I had never seen in her before, "that apes are my ancestors… God created us in His own image and God isn't an ape."

Jessica O'Keefe, "Ganger" to her Andrews grandchildren, went to high school at St. Joseph's Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin and then graduated from Lawrence University in Milwaukee. After graduating, she taught chemistry at St. Joseph's Academy where she met Edward J. Early, "Gampa", who was in the Army at the time, when he came to visit his sister, Ella Early, who was a student at St. Joseph Academy taking chemistry from Ganger.

From "The Arrowhead Field" by grandson Bill Andrews:

Mom's mother, Ganger, was the daughter of Patrick Joseph O'keefe, a physician who graduated from Montreal's McGill University Medical School and set up practice in the small Wisconsin lumber town of Oconto. Ganger was teaching at St. Joseph Academy, a girls finishing school in Green Bay, when she met my grandfather. There must have been in those days a social pecking order and some latent class-consciousness among the late 19th century immigrants from Erin because the O'Keefes regarded themselves as "lace-curtain" Irish and the Earlys as "shanty" Irish. Gampa and Ganger married in their late twenties and raised three children into adulthood. Their first child died when he was two weeks old from a pneumonia picked up in the Green Bay hospital at the time of his birth. My Uncle Ted was born in 1916, the year before the United States entered the Great War. In 1918 Gampa was serving in France as a captain in army ordnance when Ganger gave birth to my mother, Betty Jane Early. Mom was born in Washington DC, during the opening phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that ended the Great War. Reunited at war's end and anticipating economic opportunities in the bourgeoning automobile Mecca of southeast Michigan, Gampa and Ganger moved their young family from Green Bay to Detroit. Two years later their third surviving child, my Aunt Joan, was born. There my grandfather founded the Michigan Drilling Company, an engineering firm that drilled and analyzed core soil samples to determine foundation strengths for the skyscrapers being built during the boom years of the Roaring Twenties. Gampa's rigorous work ethic built wealth for his family and his savvy investment sense spared him the great economic losses visited on so many other families during the depression.

During the late 1930's, Uncle Ted and Mom attended the University of Detroit, a Jesuit institution similar to Gampa's alma mater. Uncle Ted followed in Gampa's engineering footsteps and Mom majored in the liberal arts as had her mother.

...I remember thinking what a good brother John was. He was the most sensitive of my siblings, the one who broke down and cried when Milton Evans, our black sharecropper, died. Years later when Ganger died, it was John who broke down and sobbed. The irony was that Ganger always showed more favoritism toward me, showered me with more gifts, and requested that I be the one to stay with her in Mobile. Of all my siblings, it seemed at the time that John had the greatest capacity for sentiment...

***
Her daughter Betty recalls that Ganger's mother loved Gampa, however, Ganger was infatuated with a man by the name of Hiram Fisk, a "popenjay" as Betty called him-a handsome, flashy, wealthy man who went to Stanford University and lived on his family's wealth. Ganger always compared Gampa to him throughout her life. Fisk died during the flu epedemic of World War I in Washington, D.C. in 1918. Ganger was preoccupied with wealth and aristocracy and, although Gampa made a lot of money, he didn't come from wealth according to Betty.

Ganger was a member of the rowing club at Lawrence University and her grandson, William Xavier Andrews, has a picture of her in her rowing outfit. Her good friend in college studied in Rome and later became a famous opera singer. Ganger was a good friend of Irene Packer whose father owned the Green Bay Packers. Ganger's cousin, Joseph Merrill Hoeffel, was a University of Wisconsin football star, coached at the University of Nebraska and was the first head coach of the Green Bay Packers in it first year in the National Football league. Another cousin, Admiral Kenneth Mortimer Hoeffel, was a Naval Academy graduate and a World War II Prisoner of War captured as he commanded Corrigador.

Comment by Ganger's daughter Betty:

"My mother, Ganger, made every one of my dresses, scalloped at the neck you notice. And she'd made all of my little pants match it. There'd be a little cuff right here above the knee, and my little pants would always match my dress because I was always turning summersaults and upside down."

Betty always adored Ganger to the exclusion of others until she realized that Ganger wasn't everything.

Polly Sainton English:

Although your grandmother was my mother's first cousin, I always knew her as "Aunt Jess." She was a very fine woman, and I remember her with great fondness. I have some gifts she gave me over the years, which I treasure very highly because they came from her. And yes, she was indeed a wonderful cook! I remember her dinners, and her Lady Baltimore cake."

Jessica grandson John Andrews can recall her delicious pork roast Sunday dinners and baking cakes with her. She would let John make the icing by beating egg whites while pouring thickly boiled sugar water over the whites.

Interview with daughter Betty 3/31/2005:

Ganger and Gampa never had a falling out. Gampa loved Ganger very much. Ganger was very proper, and when (her son) Ted's in-laws came over from England, Gampa had to move around the house to make room for them. Finally he said to Ganger, "Jesse, would you mind if I just have the library as my bedroom." That's why Ganger ended up sleeping in the large master bedroom upstaits and Gampa had his bed in the small library that he converted into the chapel where he died.

Gampa and Ganger "never had words, but Ganger never valued Gampa." Ganger didn't appreciate the Early's. She was very aristocratic and thought the Early's were plebic. Ganger was so impressed by the English - with the English accent.

Betty recalls Ganger's sister, Gertrude, talking about Gampa shortly after his death and saying that Gampa didn't amount to anything and it was just luck that he had become a millionaire. Betty stood up and said, "you can't even say anything nice about him when he's in the coffin."

Betty also recalls asking Ganger to say the rosary with her one night, to which Ganger responded, "uh, you're just like your father." Ganger let money run through her hands. She rented an apartment for a year before she moved to Nashville because she feared that it would not be available when she did move.

Ganger never yelled or lost her temper and was always courteous to Gampa, but she had an obsession, Ted, rather than Gampa. Gampa put all of this aside. Ganger didn't treat him as a husband.

Grandson John to his wife:

Remember Gampa's brother Will? His son Bill married the sister of Admiral Jimmy Flatley who is associated with Ganger's cousin Admiral Kenneth Hoeffel. Funny that Ganger seemed to look down on the Earlys and Mama didn't really see or know her Early cousins that well, but they were unusually good and gifted people. Here is a quote from "Reaper Leader: The Life of Jimmy Flatley," by Steve Ewing Naval Institute Press:

"Another inspiration to young Jimmy was former president Theodore Roosevelt, who died during the same year of Jimmy's protracted affliction. Encouragement also was offered by a neighbor, Kenneth Hoeffel, a 1917 Naval Academy graduate who later became a war hero and rear admiral."


Helen Cole Sainton's Book:

I came home again during the Christmas vacation as I had been invited to act as a bridesmaid at Jessie O'Keefe's wedding, which was to take place during the holiday season; but I had been back in Emporia only a few weeks when I received a telegram from Fan, who had been home some weeks as our father had become very ill soon after Christmas; telling me to come home at once; we all arrived before he passed away, but he just barely knew me and could speak to me when I went to his bedside on my arrival, and he died very shortly afterwards. This was on February 9th, 1915, about four-thirty in the evening, just a little over twenty years after his beloved Aggie's death.

Copy of letter from Kenneth Hoeffel's sister, Marion.

Mrs. George A. Bentley, 2nd
7 Craigie Circle, Apt. 62
Cambridge 38, Mass.
November 14, 1945

"My dear Jessie -

I beg your tolerance in my dilatory acknowledgment of your interesting letter so much enjoyed, as it contained such very interesting news of you all. What a lovely family you can boast of! I truly envy you your two lovely daughters and I know you share all their happiness and daily happenings. Let me know about the new grandchildren.. . The news of Ted's marriage to the English girl is interesting too. What fun you must have had getting her wedding costume assembled and sent to her. Gertrude wrote me just prior to the time you did and enclosed a copy of his new Mother-in-law's letter written after the wedding, and I decided she must be a perfect lady and now I hope Ted and his bride will get back to the U.S. soon. The snapshot taken of you both while he was home on furlough was lovely, Jessie. You look like Ted's sister, really you do!

You and Gertrude were always close to Mother and Dad and your Mother's interest and concern for Kenneth during his prison camp days prompted your writing me. The story is that Gertrude's letter arrived while I was in Evanston at Paul's waiting for Kenneth, Mary, Gerald and Paul to return from Calif. Emily and I went out the train and had a week with Julia before they arrived. Bert held Gertrude's letter here and then I went to Washington, D.C. to see more of Kenneth and when I did get back, before writing Ger. I sent yours and her letter on to Gerald and Emily to read and they sent them on to Ken and Mary. I had a letter from him this morning and he said his mail had swamped him and that he will write you both eventually. Would you mind sending this lengthy explanation on to Gertrude. He is 100% they find, having just been thru all the various tests at the Naval Hosp. in Bethesda, Md. He is there now having dentistry done. That was inevitable, and one of the worst worries he had during his prison days…. Ken realizes his return is a miracle and due to our prayers. He suffered for lack of mail from us all. Our many messages and letters never reached him. It will take a long time for him to get over his experiences, but Gerald says he is as normal as any of them are. They are all nervous and jittery and their energy easily dissapated. Mary is most understanding and handles the situation marvelously we all decided. They are planning to spend a few days here the end of this month and then he, Mary and Cornelia will go down to Miami, Fla. where he will spend three months. (They all rate that period of recuperation.) ….. Hortense and Fritzie were at Paul and Julia's for a reunion dinner, but time didn't permit all of us going up to Green Bay. That was a disappointment…. George is an Ensign, U.S.N.R. and is on the heavy cruiser U.S.S. St. Paul. He left May 15 for Pacific and was in Tokyo Bay when MacArthur landed there. Am enclosing a part of his letters that explains how he captured two Royal Marines... We had our hopes up that he might return to U. S. about the end of Jan. but those plans are all pending now as the St. Paul is relieving the cruiser Chicago and gone out on operational duty and may even go to China after completion of their job. However, he won't have enough points to get out until next June at the earliest, so this cruise to China, should it materialize, will give him opportunity to see the rest of the Orient…. Helen wrote me too… Seems you sent her late news of Kenneth and she had missed it. She must have a nice family and talented one too. Its years and years since we have seen one another. Perhaps Ger. would send her this letter and enclosures so I won't have to repeat it all…. We are very happy in Cambridge. Bert likes working for the Howard Johnson Co. very much. The Gerald Hoeffels are fine and have four darling children .... Cornelia is simply crazy about her Dad and he idolizes her and gives her every minute of his time at home. She is the image of him. If we take a family group when they come, I'll send you one. Then you can see Gerald's Children and her. Jane Hoeffel reminds me so much or you, Jess. Same coloring, eyes and make-up. I think she will take after us and be short. Gerald thinks she looks like Mother, but I don't see it .... I realize how full and busy your days are, but everyone's are these days. I find marketing quite a chore in itself. Our apartment is very compact and yet all the room we need and still with no help it takes lots of time to keep it in order. I am feeling better than I did last Spring and summer. Had a severe bout with neuritis in my neck and arm and still have it, but not as acutely as I did. Had several teeth out last April and have spent hours at the dentists since. Age is creeping up on me, I fear. However, I don't mind and intend to take it in my stride and enjoy each day. My mental state is so relieved with Kenneth spared to us. I shall be forever grateful to God for his goodness. My friends all say, I look like a different person already. Kenneth's eyes reflect his suffering especially in repose, but he won't let on, and tries to be his own sweet lovable self. He is most proud of George's accomplishments. Haven't time to write any more now, but I hope this finds you all "in the pink" as George says, and my love to you all and this includes Gertrude and Helen Cole.

Devotedly, Marion.

Helen Cole's Book:
Less than a month before she died, I received what was to be my last letter from that remarkable person, our Aunt Lizzie [while living with Ganger and Gampa]. We all remarked how firm was her handwriting, for she was in her 85th year. As it tells of Carroll's death, I append part of it and also will preserve her remarkable handwriting.

"My dear Helen –

There has been so much that has happened in the last five months that it makes it hard to take my stack of Christmas mail and do much with it. However, notwithstanding a devastating cold of three weeks standing, I am feeling better and got out yesterday for a twenty minute walk with Jessie. The weather is warm. Today Jess is out with Betty to a movie, so I only walked ten minutes alone. It is five months since I went to the Hospital. Carroll's passing so suddenly was a hard blow, but he came up to Neenah to see me while I was in hospital and it is a lovely remembrance, and Evelyn's bringing him to Oconto for internment comforted me. She ordered a marker in marble monument, going to Oconto for that purpose. Her mother, sister and brother live in Calgary.

You, like me, will welcome spring, and I hope all my sick friends will be benefited. Aunt Elizabeth is learning to walk on crutches and Jim writes me her lee is so weak that the progress is slow, but he says, thank God she has no pain. Aunt Tina Hoetffel has had a second stroke, broken hip,etc. and is helpless at St. Vincent's. I hope God will be kind and take her soon. Mrs. Best, Marjorie O'Kelleher's lovely mother, died in Chicago Saturday. She had a stroke, and has been in a nursing home in Chicago six years.

I had a nice letter from Aunt Adelaide today and she tells me she is chairman of the Nursing Division, War Service Dept of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs. Recruiting nurses, and getting scholarships funds from twenty-five districts in the state! She is a wonder. I think she is seventy-five!

I enjoyed your first letter at Christmas time, and the one of Jan. 25th. You write well; and your family book made the grade… How darling those two babies must be! Polly has a fine husband to help… Gerald Hoeffel's Emily has three in four years, but she is a nurse and knows all about children. They have about a 40 year old house on Brattle St., Cambridge, remodeled it, and have lots of room for the babies and had fun doing it over, she writes me.

Ted is in Atlanta, Ga. and is wild over his flying. Says, "I am the happiest madman in the skies." You know he and Mary are engaged… Where is Lena?

Aunt Elizabeth

Death of Aunt Lizzie

Aunt Lizzie died Friday, April 6, 1943, at 9:30 P.M. at Jessie's home in Detroit, of an attack of her old ailment. Ed and Jess brought her body to Oconto by train. The funeral was at 9 A.M. Tuesday April 20, from St. Joseph's church, burial in the family lot at the Catholic cemetery. Carroll had died at Christmas time in Chicago, and Horace was in New York, and could not be there for the funeral, but Gertrude drove up and was with the family for several days, also Uncle Jim, the remaining survivor of our mother's family, came from Green Bay, he was 80 years old on April 1st.

The Catholic Woman's Club was at the church in a body. The pall-bearers were:

William Runkel, Hugo Linglebach, Clinton de Witt, Eldred Klauser, Howard Mayberry and Giles Megan.

Cecile sent me the above, and from Jess I have more details of her death.

"Mother enjoyed your last letter so much and was delighted at your answering right back. She did love life and everything interesting right to the very end, so I couldn't believe it was the end until Friday afternoon when she slept away. Thursday A.M. I was going to Mount Clemens to Aunt Anne O'keefe's funeral. She died Monday, and mother was as well as she has been since her first sickness in Neenah (this was in the autumn of 1942), but Thursday she said she had a bad night and that I'd better not go awy. So I used the treatments that we found did the trick, but this time they didn't. We called the Doctor, and while he was waiting for his hypo to work (she was in great pain) she talked of great doctors she knew- Dr. O'Keefe and Dr. Minehan and his operation on her in the middle of the night, etc. Wented to know if baked potato was too bulky and oatmeal was too rough. Wed. afternoon she had renewed subscriptions to Post pnd Colliers. But these last 3, 4 months she's talked over every thing importr:nt to her and was ready, it was clear I am so grateful that we had her here and that the children could know and love her. But these last months she's been so frail and dependent and we've been together so constantly.

Less than a month before she died, I received what was to be my last letter from that remarkable person, our Aunt Lizzie. We all remarked how firm was her handwriting, for she was in her 85th year. As it tells of Carroll's death, I append part of it and also will preserve her remarkable handwriting.

"My dear Helen –

There has been so much that has happened in the last five months that it makes it hard to take my stack of Christmas mail and do much with it. However, notwithstanding a devastating cold of three weeks standing, I am feeling better and got out yesterday for a twenty minute walk with Jessie. The weather is warm. Today Jess is out with Betty to a movie, so I only walked ten minutes alone. It is five months since I went to the Hospital. Carroll's passing so suddenly was a hard blow, but he came up to Neenah to see me while I was in hospital and it is a lovely remembrance, and Evelyn's bringing him to Oconto for internment comforted me. She ordered a marker in marble monument, going to Oconto for that purpose. Her mother, sister and brother live in Calgary.

You, like me, will welcome spring, and I hope all my sick friends will be benefited. Aunt Elizabeth is learning to walk on crutches and Jim writes me her lee is so weak that the progress is slow, but he says, thank God she has no pain. Aunt Tina Hoetffel has had a second stroke, broken hip,etc. and is helpless at St. Vincent's. I hope God will be kind and take her soon. Mrs. Best, Marjorie O'Kelleher's lovely mother, died in Chicago Saturday. She had a stroke, and has been in a nursing home in Chicago six years.

I had a nice letter from Aunt Adelaide today and she tells me she is chairman of the Nursing Division, War Service Dept of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs. Recruiting nurses, and getting scholarships funds from twenty-five districts in the state! She is a wonder. I think she is seventy-five!

I enjoyed your first letter at Christmas time, and the one of Jan. 25th. You write well; and your family book made the grade… How darling those two babies must be! Polly has a fine husband to help… Gerald Hoeffel's Emily has three in four years, but she is a nurse and knows all about children. They have about a 40 year old house on Brattle St., Cambridge, remodeled it, and have lots of room for the babies and had fun doing it over, she writes me.

Ted is in Atlanta, Ga. and is wild over his flying. Says, "I am the happiest madman in the skies." You know he and Mary are engaged… Where is Lena?

Aunt Elizabeth"

LETTER FROM JESSICA TO HER GRANDSON JOHN EARLY ANDREWS:

Feb. 4, 1968

Dearest John,

It's Sunday noon Nashville, Tenn. and we can smell the roast pork loin in the oven [Ganger always made this delicious meal] - and Joan and Susan and the children are having dinner here after 10:30 Mass. David's to be in the choir - There's really no news - but that's good here in Nash. I am anxious to know how your's and Bill's tapes came out on your birthday - that sounded like a wonderful thing - if they were clear - and the voices natural sounding - it would be thrilling, I think. Let me know if they were success enough to be repeated. I had more bookmarks printed for you _____________________ it would be nice for you if they'd be put on your really precious records -they all have jackets don't they? The girls can put them on when they have more leisure - that would be Spring wouldn't it, but it's not far behind - here & on your alblum. I have that letter from Bill that I copied off for you; he gave us his return address on envelope. Ft. Campbell - but the stamp on the envelope is Ft. Polk, LA and he speaks of being at Ft. Polk. Does that mean that Ft. Campbell is his more permanent address that he'll always go back to?

I had extras of this picture made one for each of the albums -_________ graduated - and had those awful orders. Joan knew about them but I didn't - not till after they'd been changed to administration. That explained Joan's serious look & even Bill's subdued expression. If you've no place for this picture in your alblum this is such a lovely view of your grounds - you had to come - or you came during week or else you'd just gone back to Colo. I guess it was the Sunday before this that you were there and we all were having dinner & lots ____________________ the bivwac seege was just over & he was sleepy eyed but happy - well, it's all going to end, end well & happily - you boys are so very wonderful and deserving & we know God's in your corner - and we are reminding him of you all the time.

It's getting to be my bed time and I'll say good night - but I'll leave this open till tomorrow & I may have something more to add - but probably not - It's all quiet on this front. God bless you Johnny dear - Don't try to answer this - just include me in your letter home - they keep you boys so busy.

All my love to you John. Ganger

Letters from Jessica Early (nee Jessica Agnes O'Keefe, born Oconto Wisconsin, daughter of Patrick Joseph O'keefe and Elizabeth Hoeffel) to her husband James Edward Early during World War I

10/1/1917 OCONTO WISCONSIN LETTER TO HUSBAND:

Dearest - Don't expect me to write any more I'm in the air! Your letters (written Sun & Mon.) with check came today - & I've been so happy since there's no living with me. I'm getting ready & you look for a tiny apt. bachelor if possible - (that means Murphy beds & no bedroom - just kitchenette & bath but you can do best you can now & if it doesn't suit we can look together! Don't know yet when I can come but won't waste any time. Mother wants me to say Nov.! Imagine! Just as soon as you can get a place for us! Loads of love & thanks for money. J.

LETTER FROM JESSICA EARLY TO HER HUSBAND ED ABOUT 1918:

It makes you feel like a regular soldier to be officer of day, doesn't it? Have you lost any? Lvs, I mean. I think you're enjoying Aberdeen - I'm awfully glad of it. You'll see a diff. in Carroll. It seems to me he gets dearer everyday - if that's possible - he looks like a picture baby walking around.

I had a big letter from Pauline Sat. & she's coming to Wash.! Hasn't heard from her exam but expects to the last of July & is hoping I'll not be in Aberdeen. She asks lots of ques. about expenses & if she can live on 100 a mo. we'll have quite a colony here from Wis. won't we. When your check comes why don't you send it back to Amer. National & send me a check on that back & I'll deposit it at Park Savings. I was foolish enough Sat. when I saw I was out ahead to buy some drygoods, etc. that I could have waited til my check came & not run out of funds. Forgot there might be a delay on account of your moving. So I'm "flat" now.

Your Sat. letter was lost off of bus & a private J.E. Aster found & maile dit so if you know him thank him for it.

Mrs. Herrius going out & I'll have her mail this for me -
Loads & loads of love til Thurs.
Jessica

LETTER FROM JESSICA EARLY TO HER HUSBAND EDWARD J. EARLY:
Washington, D.C.

August 1918

Dearest Ed. - in Rome!! And its wonderful to be back with my Betty Jane and Carroll - I can't wait till you get back Friday or Saturday to see your family! She certainly looks like a little doll dressed up in her pretty clothes today. All the Whilteys and Lieut. Dougherty were in to admire her. Hazel came after me - and some lovely pink roses came for Betty Jane just before I left whch I suspect came from her nice daddy and she was so happy to get them. I undressed her and gave her her din din at 7:00 - and she hasn't peeped all eve - awfully good. And Carroll is so dear and kissed the pretty baby - he touches her so tenderly - we're going to have lots of fun together.

Warron is going to mail this so is hurrying me. I dried this with his black sweater - a big kiss - (not from her)
Loads of love from
- Your devoted
Jessica Wed eve

Letter of about July 15, 1918 from Jessica in Washington, D.C. to her husband:

I don't know why I'm so tired to-night. I ache. Think I will go to bed when I mail this little love note. I'll write a better letter next time. This is just a little hello for my brain refuses to work & spose tomorrow I'll think of a log things I might have told you.

I'm so glad you're in so much good company there - you'll enjoy it - Do write me lots - & I'll do better in the future. Loads & loads of love from Wiffie and Carroll.

Letter of about July 15, 1918 Washington,DC, from Jessica to her husband:

- was afraid war would be coming along before I got a letter to her and she'd go to Miss Siniourou that old pupil who invited her. I can't give her a very thrilling time till after the 10th of Aug. (that's when I get up!) but she can make headquarters here for awhile. Carroll is walking in that same excited way and I keep him at it so he'll gain confidence that's all he needs - he says - "da da's all gone." Don't you miss him! We sure miss you daddy –

Letter from Ganger to Gampa World War I:

Dearest - your nice letter today saying you'd just got three letters from me surprised me - they were written three consecutive days. Why are they so held up?
I'm afraid to leave sweetie till I hear you have found a place for us - a hotel would be pretty expensive business & we could't leave the baby nights to look. I had to buy a new trunk the one's in basement were falling to pieces & your steamer was too small. Got a nice bargain for 11.32 holds our all. Am taking some linen and silver that's all. I just can't wait to get there. I'd have to travel on sure to get there for my birthday and havn't my ticket yet so it will be Wed. or Thurs I guess. Will wire you from Chicago when I leave there - so don't fail to meet me. If you're not at train, I'll go to Wormana waiting room -suppose there is one in that depot. I'll wait till you come. If I knew where we'd be I'd send on carriage now. Hope you have good luck in finding something for us in small apartment.

Had a letter from Sara today saying they had a little daughter Mary Jane - born in Burlington Sept. 12.
Goodnight dear heart hope to hear soon that you have something & will start right on when you do.

Loads of love –

LETTER FROM JESSICA EARLY TO HER HUSBAND WWI:
... space you started in school yet. What if you all day remembering your math. As you say if others can so can you if you make up your mind you're going to. It's nice that it's so cool - it makes work easier.

I missed you so Sun. Will sure be glad to see you this week. Each day I do some big extra towards my party. Just got at closet & stored my everything the mereuet using coats & suits of yourd & jruice & shelves & books are clear now for the girls. Even your beautenors look chest where the mice gather is done in white artcloth. I'm going to have some money left this mo. I guess - have about $9 left & only 4 or 5 days more - can get that box with extra money but won't till end of mo.

Haven't had a letter from Weavers for age & she owes me two. Guess I've told you all the news. As you say you can tell pretty well what we're doing all day!

Hope I hear from you love or soon & that you'll forgive my poorness at writing but I'm going to do better by writing in a.m.

Loads of love from Carroll, Betty & Jessica.

Helen Cole's Senior Year High School Diary 1904:

August 31st -

Hustled all day Saturday, Counted silver, china, etc. Genevieve J came at 4. Ironed and counted linen. Marion, Pauline and I met Aunt Lizzie at 10 (Ganger's mother). The Eberhardt girls of Memphis,Tenn came also to visit the Linglebach's. Pat [Conway] and his best man Arthur (Kid) Folsom arrived at 5:30 Sunday morning, Sept. 3rd. Rained hard all day, Pat and Fan went up Frenchtown to Mass. "Kid" and Pat were up to dinner. They are both grand and such fun, 'we were alI so happy, except worried about Papa. Will came down in the evening, and we all practiced for the wedding. Kid and Pat vere up most of the day Monday- it was really a week in a day.

Met, Jess, Miss Quinn and Mrs Harth (the caterer) who all came at 10:40. Jack was up at the house, helping to decorate, when I got back. Mrs Scofield phoned asking me to pick all the flowers we needed in her garden, Jess and Jack went with me. What fun! Jack said later, These are the happiest days of my whole life. Jess & I thought so too.

If the day could only last a week or more! To have Jess and Jack here together, and to pick flowers together, then hand them to Jack who stands on the ladder and decorates the chandliers, and heIps us put them in vases, and helps us do everything, then we all eat lunch together in confusion in the dining room, while in the kitchen there is more confusion still, out all such fun.

Aunts and Fau and Cecile and our Helen Koeppen (our cook) are all out there helping Mme. Harth the caterer, they are making weddingcake, and other cakes, angel foods, devil foods and all kinds of luscious things to eat for the breakfast and reception tomorrow. And Miss Quinn is here, and she is so dear we love her so much, we would like to keep her, but where are there only two days to see her, and Jack and Jess, and all the dear Aunts, and Pat and Arthur Folsom, and Mr. Blanchard and all the handsome men who are here to be Pat's best men, and who were classmates of his at Dartmouth… People running in and out all day, people telephoning to offer their assistance, or do we need anything, linen silver, anything?- little Agnes and Kathleen the babies in the family so excited running all over, Henry running errands and helping, oh, such excitement-- I am writing this page forty years later, and I can still remember almost every minute of those two days.

We were blessed with perfect, warm weather (and it was a good thing, for our dresses were for warm summer weather, and of course we did not wish to cover them with wraps… The whole town lined the streets to see the wedding party go to the church and back, and they talked of it for weeks afterwards and said it was the lovliest wedding in their memory… At the reception Pauline and the Hoeffel twins, Mildred and Marion, and their set among the sixteen-year olds, helped with the refreshments (and if my memory does not fail me here, I think they served the breakfast at the bridal table too.) but I was grown up now. I was part of the wedding party, and stood grandly in the receiving line in the parlor in front of the lovely old bay window, whole room a mass of flowers, in the same spot where our mother and father and grandparents received, at the wedding and goldenwedding just 24 years before … All of their old friends who were still living came that day with their congratulations and most of them had tears in their eyes. But we had no time for tears, all was fun and laughter and excitement. Arthur Folsom was a cut-up and during a momentary lull he decided he would kiss the bride, then the bridesmaids, then the other men decided quickly they should have that privilege too, so of course all was a-flutter among the girls but they were so gallant we could not object, but we all had to assume our dignity again for the guests were arriving, so into line we went again….

That wedding, that started so well, for which the whole town it seemed wished everybody well, and everyone was so generous and lovable, it started well, but did not continue or end well. Of all the marriages in our family (and that was the only big wedding, although Pauline did have a nice small wedding at our apartment in Detroit a few years later) that was the only one in which things did not go well, they did not get along at all, one was selfish and the other was peevish, and so it went from bad to worse and ended in misery….

Mr Howard Rumery, another real old friend of Pat's from Chicago. but an Easterner too also came this morning on the 5:30 train, so he also joined in the merriment all day. They never left the house, lunching with us and dining with us, there was plenty To eat, there were dozens of people cooking in the great big kitchen that stretched across the back of the house. Our chicken yard was greatly depleted for the feastings.. Will went to Marinette to a K.C. banquet. We had to move the presents upstairs in the front room… John Kittell of Green Bay and a nice Mr. Alexander of Milwaukee, and the Appleton Hoeffels came on 4 o'c. train. Tuesday, the wedding… (see copy of newspaper account) Jack stayed with us all evening, went home at 2 A.M. train. "Kid" Folsom and Blanchard left for Chicago at 12 midnight.... Wednesday, we all worked hard all day, cleaning, sorting borrowed dished linen and silver and returning it etc….

Jess went home Thursday, how I hated to see her go…. We were going to the County Fair in the afternoon, and went to the dance in the evening, but did not enjoy it. Was too tired out to go to the Fair Friday, but dressed and went to the Band Concert… Sunday a nice day, felt pretty good. Made a call on Ethel Fisher in the afternoon but she wasn't home .. Got a dandy letter from Fan and sent her things to St. Paul where they will be for a few days.

From "Wisconsin Saga by Helen Cole Sainton:

You can see us in the picture Dad took with his new camera, gathered together in the library at home. Cecile is holding "Curley" the little black spaniel, on her lap, you can just see his eyes. And there is another one taken on a lovely summer day, it must have been Sunday for we are all dressed up, and we are lined up in the yard inside the picket fence. Cecile is on her bicycle and Jess is there with us, all dressed in her pretty green silk dress and parasol. How I envied the girls that had nice mothers, who took an interest in their clothes, and in their friends, and gave them birthday parties, and surrounded them with love and happiness! We had none of these things. In the summers I often went to Jessie's house for visits and we were devoted friends.

Sunday, Sept. 10, Went to High Mass and spent the afternoon at Mrs. Bellew's. We walked down to Carr's and were having ice cream when Irene Packard [one of Jess's best friends and daughter of the owner of the Green Bay Packers according to Jess's daughter, Betty Early Andrews] and her uncle and Aunt (the Leisens of Menominee, parents of Mitchell Leisen the prominent movie director of Hollywood)( Jess's daughter says that Jess' father, Dr. Patrick J. O'Keefe place a silver plate in Mitchell's head when he was a young boy, the first in medical history] and Harry Thurlow movie director of Hollywood) and Harry Thurlow (whom Irene married a short time after) who were passing through in their automobile came in and we had a good visit, they stayed for about a half hour, Irene pressed me to go over for a visit… In the evening the twins and Pauline and I called on Ethel Fisher ….

Thursday, October 26th, 1905
Sent a special delivery letter to Irene Thurlow (Packard). Got my black skirt at Corboy's and went at 4 o'c

The Jim Leisen referred to on opposite page was uncle of Irene Packard (her mother was a Deisero) Jim's son, Mitchell became quite famous as a Movie Director in Hollywood in the forties.

Irene and her uncle met me with the auto and I went to the "Mascot" with them in the evening. Bought my coat Sat. at Burns and the girls all dressed up for the Sextette again, but they didn't have the show so the boys took us up to their rooms and we had a great time, music, singing and Mrs. Packard made a Welsh rarebit. Met among others a Mr. Wolf, Adreea von Wolf, Leroy Wall, Will Harmon, and lots of others dandy girls and boys. Went to Mass on Sunday morning with Gretchen, Clarissa and May Holmes at St John's. Mr. Leisen took us for a wonderful ride in the afternoon.

The diary ends abruptly here. I went to Green Bay shortly after returning home from this visit with Irene, and stayed with Aunt Lizzie (Jessie was now going to Milwaukee Downer College studying Home Economics - the now famous Jessie DeBooth took the same Course about this time at Menominie,Wis. Normal College, Jess knew her of course in Green Bay, where her Mother had a millinery shop just two doors from Uncle Jim' s shoe shop on Washington St., and her brother Ward de Botn went around in the same set - Jess met Mabel Meaghr (pronounced Mar) who was attending the same school and they became life long friends, as were the three of us.)

FALL 1954 AUDIO TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
GANGER'S VISIT TO THE FARM IN LEWISBURG

Bell ringing (call to breakfast).

Ganger: "Good mornin Billy and Joan and Johnny and Susan (clearing throat and laugh). How are you this morning? Did you have a nice sleep? Are you all ready for an exciting breakfast? Is it toast or good ole country milk (laugh)? Or do we have cream of wheat? Billy will you make us some cream of wheat one of these days and put your cap and apron on? Huh? Happy thought? Ok, that's what we'll have, but today we'll just have toast, huh, and jelly. And good old country milk; yes (laugh). Well this is Thanksgiving and isn't it wonderful? We're all together; oh my! And Gampa will be coming in a week and he'll love it too. And I'm here, Ganger duck. Saying God bless you to dear little sweethearts – Billy and Joanie, and Johnnie and Susie. God bless you all. Bye Bye."

Mama: "Oh, thank you Ganger too. And God bless you Joan and Susan and Bill and John. God bless you. Did you say your morning offering darlins? Oh, that's good. Now we'll forget all that silly stuff Ganger talked about and have some nice good old down on the farm country milk, won't we? Ha ha ha ha! Alright, anybody come for (bell rings) good old country milk. Ganger duck, will you have some country milk now?"

Ganger: "Oh yes, I want it in my coffee (laugh), but we won't tell Mama. She doesn't like that."

From: "[email protected]"
To: "David"
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2017 7:10:18 PM
Subject: 1950 early audio of Ganger

Wow David. No. What a wonderful recording. I guess Ganger was visiting us but it would have had to be after 1953 when we moved to the farm. Maybe it was 1954 when John and I made our first communion. I know Gampa and Ganger came down for that and Gampa died the next year. Wow. Is this from Daddy's wire recorder? Love it. Thanks David. David you send this to John. He'll love it. Thanks mucho. WillyX

From: "John Andrews"
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 3:19:07 AM
Subject: 1950 early audio of Ganger

David, do you have many of these tapes? Yes, I think this was our first communion in 1954, the only time I recall that Gampa came down.

From: David [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 10:05 AM
To: Andrews, John (DC); Bill Andrews
Subject: 1950 early audio of Ganger

Hi John,

A few years ago I tried to transfer audio tapes to digital recorder, but Daddy's old Sony reel-to-reel was broken. I bought two used versions of the same to salvage for parts and got the recorder to play. Problem was many of the recordings seem to be on two or four tracks (two on each side of the tape), and the recorder would play back two tracks at a time a double the recorded speed. So the playback was too fast and in some cases half would be backwards. This is one of the few recordings that I slowed and reversed digitally. You can hear it's far from ideal. The other stuff, and there's days of stuff, is scantly labeled and has at least the same challenges.

I've got better digital audio software now, but I don't know it well and don't have the time to do much learning just now.

I'm taking my first day of vacation in a year next week, and am thinking of driving up to visit Mama. Can you come down to Annapolis on Monday?

David

Ganger's mother, FRANCES HOEFFEL O'KEEFE of Oconto, Wisconsin had lost her husband, Dr. Patrick O'Keefe, in 1899, the year Dr. Frank MacDonell had graduated from Medical School. The death had naturally not only left Ganger without a father, but also without frequent contact with her O'Keefe relatives in Chatham, Ontario. Accordingly, several years later Frances arranged for Ganger to spend some time in Chatham and Ganger met Dr. MacDonell developed a little crush on him according to Mom. Dr. MacDonell was the brother-in-law of Ganger's uncle Joseph Thomas O'Keefe.

9/11/05 Phone Conversation w/ EJEA – When Jessica graduated from Milwaukee Doner University, later named Lawrence University, her mother gave her a trip to Chatham, Ontario to meet her relatives on Dr. P. O'Keefe's side of the family for the first time.

Dr. McDonnel apparently came up to Chatham from Detroit and Jessica really liked Dr. MacDonell in a romantic way. He was Jessica's age. He had a sister who never married who was very possessive of him and she wouldn't have him up again to see Jessica.

Daughter Betty's Obituary by Betty's grandson Matt Andrews:
Elizabeth Early Andrews was 101. Born during WWI, she lived through over 40% of US history. She was raised in Detroit where her father owned Michigan Drilling Co and she said she knew Henry Ford. She was a WWII army nurse and deeply religious. She would air-pop popcorn and melt butter on the stove and created a life-long popcorn addiction in me. She also taught me the Heimlich maneuver, what evaporation was, to eat the end that sticks out of my sandwich, and to help an ant out with a crumb here and there. She encouraged me and my brothers to gallop horses, climb trees and build zip-lines. If we got injured she would tell us to offer the pain up to God. She let us keep stray animals that wandered onto her farm and no matter what we named them she called them Shep. She had a very distinctive siren-like call when we were still out digging for arrowheads and she thought it was getting too dark. She was a mother of 6 and usually called them all David before getting to the correct name. She left behind 43 grandchildren and 29 great grandchildren.

Grandma was cuddly. She made terrific chicken a'la King. She loved to serve and hover and we had to beg her to sit with us to eat. She loved her family dearly and in the days before cell phones and Facebook it seemed anytime you visited the farm she would catch you up on what everyone was doing. Her faith was so strong. Any night that I ever spent at the farmhouse I fell asleep to her saying the rosary over us in an almost droning, chant that put us right to sleep and even if my brothers fell asleep after the first 10 Hail Mary's I knew she spent about an hour praying over us at night. She believed if you died while wearing a rosary Mary would come down and guide you to heaven. She had a way of talking over movies to try to make clear any moral lessons that were to be learned. For example, in the movie "The Natural" Kim Basinger's character was a flirt and Glen Close was a very holy girl and my brothers and I should stay away from flirts. We watched so many movies over there over the years and while most people watch passively, Grandma would add a layer of narration to the soundtrack. She was teaching. She was trying to get us to see it from Jesus' point of view. I really can hear her voice when talking about how holy that Maria Von Trap was but also how holy my Dad and my aunts and uncles are. She always did have something more to say and another blessing to bestow as you were hugging goodbye.

I'm sure one of the reasons we all have such fond memories of the farm and time with Grandma and Grandpa was how slow time moved there and how nice the quiet times were as we strolled around the house or observed the footprints in the concrete and the fireflies at dusk and the cows breath in the winter. In my mind grandpa is sitting on a lazyboy in that sun room with a little space heater burning and grandma is working on some honey toast in the kitchen and filling glasses of milk too full and we step outside on the porch to eat our toast and bananas and just listen to the wind chimes and the leaves. She might tell us a story about how she saw her father at the foot of her bed the morning he died. Grandma was cuddly and loving and it was always so nice to have her near and in our memories she always will be near.

She was married to my grandfather for over 60 years and I've missed her since she moved off of the family farm. My family all appreciates the great care my Uncle John, Aunt Miriam and all of my Lademan cousins have taken of her in Annapolis these past 15 years since my grandfather died.

GANGER'S TIMELINE
Birth
9 Oct 1885 Oconto, Wisconsin [October 9, 1885 per daughter Elizabeth Early Andrews' bible]
Grandson Bill- There must have been in those days a social pecking order and some latent class consciousness among the late 19th century immigrants from Erin because the O'Keefe's regarded themselves as "lace-curtin" Irish and the Earlys as "shanty" Irish.

Age 3 — Birth of brother Carroll James O'Keefe(1889–1942)
September 1, 1889 • Oconto, Wisconsin

Age 4 — Illness of Grandmother
September 6, 1890 • Chatham, Ontario, Canada
Oconto County Reporter. Sept 6, 1890. Dr. O'Keef and son Horace left Wednesday, for Chatham, Canada. The doctor was summoned to the bed-side of his mother, who is very ill. .

Age 7 — Birth of brother John Sims O'Keefe(1893–1900)
May 5, 1893 • Oconto, Wisconsin

Age 8 — Birth of sister Gertrude Louise O'Keefe(1894–1978)
June 2, 1894 • Oconto, Wisconsin

Age 8 — Letter from Cousin Helen Cole
September 30, 1894 • St. Mary's Institute
My darling Mamma-I thought I would write you a few lines to let you that I am well and hope you are the same. How is Jessie O'Keefe that she don't write to me. Fannie and I are all well. Did Misses Martineau come back from St. Louis yet.

Age 13 — Death of father Patrick Joseph O'Keefe M.D.(1845–1899)
June 27, 1899 • Menominee, Michigan - We did not know him but he birthed our grandparents and maybe even took care of our great-grandparents! Cathe Ziereis

Age 15 — Hoeffel Grandparents
1900 about • Green Bay, Wisconsin
Helen Cole Sainton-Grandma Hoeffel (Frances Knowles) died about the year 1900, soon after Doctor O'Keefe's death, and Aunt Lizzie went to live there with her family, and remained with Grandpa (Joseph Peter Hoeffel) , until his death in May, 1906.

Age 15 — Residence
1900 • Menominee city Ward 7, Menominee, Michigan, United States
1900 US Census

Age 18 — Graduation
1903 about • Green Bay, Wisconsin
St. Joseph's Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Age 20 — Residence
1905 • Green Bay city, ward 1, Brown, Wisconsin - 1905 Wisconsin State Census.
Helen Cole September 1905 - Pat and Fan Conway's wedding -Jess went home Thursday, how I hated to see her go….

Age 22 — Graduation
1907 • Appleton, WI
Lawrence University---Ganger was at Lawrence University in Milwaukee and didn't move to Chicago with the family when Nanny moved to Chicago many years after Dr. O'Keefe Died so that Horace, Gertrude and Carroll could get a music education.

Age 22 — Occupation
1907 about
Taught chemistry at St. Joseph's Academy where she met Edward J. Early, "Gampa", who was in the Army at the time, when he came to visit his sister, Ella Early, who was a student at St. Joseph Academy taking chemistry from Ganger.

Age 25 — Residence
1910 • Chicago Ward 6, Cook, Illinois
1910 US Census - Jessie O'Keefe, age 22, was employed as "Teaching Domestic Science" and living with her widowed mother on Calumet Ave, the 6th Ward of Chicago, Illinois.

Age 29 — Engagement
1914 about • Ella attended St. Joseph's Academy in Green Bay and introduced him to her chemistry teacher, Jessica Agnes O'Keefe. They were married in the chapel of St. Joseph's Academy in Green Bay which the nuns had beautifully decorated with holly, etc.
That same year Ella entered the convent of the St. Joseph's order, taking the name Sister Mary James and Margaret left for China. [One wedding source has wedding as 1913 St. Joseph Academy Chapel Saturday morning at 10:00]
Edward James Early
(1888–1955)

Age 29 — Occupation
1914 • Green Bay, Wisconsin
Chemistry Teacher - St. Joseph's Academy. Grandson Bill Andrews - Ganger was teaching at St. Joseph Academy, a girls finishing School in Green Bay, when she met my grandfather. She was teaching Gampa's sister, Ella Early at the time.

Age 29 — Marriage
2 Jan 1915 • St. Patrick Church, Green Bay, Wisconsin (St. Joseph Academy Chapel 10 A.M.) by Rev. M. J. O'Brien, Best Man - James Early, Maid of Honor- Gertrude O'Keefe
Gamps's friend Phil Sheridan who lived in a large house next door to St. Joseph's Academy suggested that Gampa should meet the new chemistry teacher, Ms. O'Keefe, who had just graduated from Milwaukee Downer (Lawrence University)
Edward James Early
(1888–1955)

Age 29 — Birth of son John Edward Early (1915–1915)
3 Oct 1915 • Green Bay Wisconsin

Age 30 — Death of son John Edward Early (1915–1915)
19 Oct 1915 • Green Bay Wisconsin

Age 30 — Number of Children - 4
1915 • Ganger favored her daughter Betty, but would have favored Ted had he let her, but Ted would not let her possess him that way. He went his own way and Ganger couldn't put her clamps on him.
Gampa and Ganger married in their late twenties and raised three children into adulthood. Their first child died when he was two weeks old from a pneumonia picked up in the Green Bay hospital at ther time of his birth.

Age 30 — Birth of son Edward Carroll "Ted" Early(1916–1957)
February 15, 1916 • Green Bay, Wisconsin - William X. Andrews-My uncle Ted was born in 1916, the year before the United States entered the Great War.

Age 31 — Residence
June 4, 1917 • Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin

Age 32 — Birth of Daughter Betty
August 17, 1918 • Washington, D.C.
Daughter Betty always called Ganger "Mother" to be proper as Ganger wished. Ganger wanted her grandchildren to use the French and call her "Grandma mare" rather than grandmother, but Bill couldn't pronounce it and it ended up "Ganger.".

Age 32 — Birth of daughter Elizabeth Jane Early (1918–2020)
August 17, 1918 • Washington, D.C. while her family lived at 550 Irving St. NW

Age 34 — Residence
1919 • Detroit- Helen Cole: Jess and Ed Early were there with their three children, Betty, Teddy and Joan; and Carroll and Evelyn O'Keefe, and Bess Dana Koebel and Gen. Dana Barrett, old friends from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin were living there too, and we had a very pleasant season. So Polly was married in Detroit, and her first housekeeping was done in a little apartment in Aunt Lizzie's big house in Oconto, where Bob was a County Agricultural Agent.

Age 35 — Cousins
1920 • Green Bay, Wisconsin
Ganger's cousin, Joseph Merrill Hoeffel, was the first coach of the Green Bay Packers, and her cousin, Admiral Kenneth Mortimer Hoeffel, was an Annapolis Graduate and prisoner of war during World War II.

Age 35 — Residence
1920 • Oconto, Wisconsin - Elizabeth Hoeffel O'Keefe is living with her married daughter Jessie Early and grandchildren Carroll and Elizabeth. Her boarders are professionals.
1920 and the US Census finds Elizabeth O'Keefe, now age 60, back in Oconto County, Wisconsin, where she is listed as "Proprietor - Boarding House."

Age 35 — Birth of daughter Joan Mildred Early(1921–1999)
February 6, 1921 • Detriot, Michigan

Age 44 — Children's Education
1929 • Detroit, Michigan
When her daughter Betty was in 5th or 6th Grade, Jessica took her out of St. Cecilia School and enrolled her in the more elete Winterhalter School in Detroit. The next year her husband discretely returned her to St. Cecilia.

Age 45 — Residence
1930 • Detroit (Districts 0501-0750), Wayne, Michigan
1930 Federal Census

Age 55 — Wedding - Pauline Sainton English
October 12, 1940 • - Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, USA - Among the out-of-town wedding guests were the groom's grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth English, Napoleon, O. Mrs. E. H. Mullen, Appleton, Wis.; Mrs. Robert Amundson, Madison, Wis.; Mrs. John R. Morris, Chicago; Mrs. Henry U. Cole; Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Early, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert O'Connor, and Miss Joan Early, Detroit.

Age 55 — Residence
1940 • Ward 16, Detroit, Detroit City, Wayne, Michigan, United States
1940 Federal Census -Dear Susan Andrews, I knew Jessie and Ed when they lived in Detroit. My mother, Peggy O'Keefe Abele were first cousins. When Jessie left Detroit after Ed died, I lost contact with the family. would love to share what I have. Joan Abele

Age 57 — Death of brother Carroll James O'Keefe(1889–1942)
December 26, 1942 • Chicago, IL - of pneumonia ------ Oconto Catholic Cemetery shows his death date as Dec. 27, 1942. His mother: Carroll's passing so suddenly was a hard blow, but he came up to Neenah to see me while I was in hospital and it is a lovely remembrance, and

Age 57 — Cousin Kenneth Hoeffel - Prisoner of War
1942 • Mukden, Manchuria - He was freed by the Russians when the war ended and is now reported to be aboard a destroyer out of Darien bound for Korea. From there he will be flown to Okinawa, and from there to Manila, and then home...He writes that he kept a
prison diary and that "our most severe trial was undernourishment, which was at best insufficient rice and a watery soup three time a day. With him at Mukden were 70 British generals, brigadiers and colonels, 50 Dutch officers of the same ranks...

Age 57 — Mother's Death
April 16, 1943 • Detroit- Aunt Lizzie died Friday, April 6, 1943, at 9:30 P.M. at Jessie's home in Detroit, of an attack of her old ailment. Ed and Jess brought her body to Oconto by train. The funeral was at 9 A.M. Tuesday April 20, from St. Joseph's church, burial in the
family lot at the Catholic cemetery. Carroll had died at Christmas time in Chicago, and Horace was in New York, and could not be there for the funeral, but Gertrude drove up and was with the family for several days, also Uncle Jim, the remaining survivor

Age 57 — Death of mother Elizabeth Frances "Lizzie" Hoeffel(1859–1943)
April 16, 1943 • Detroit, Michigan; [Friday April 16 at 9:30 PM at her daughter Jessica's home, 2850 Oakman Blvd. [Oconto Catholic Cemetery records say April 17, 1943]

Age 59 — Wedding of Daughter Betty
November 25, 1944 • Stuttgart, Arkansas

Age 60 — Move from Monica to 2850 Oakman Blvd.
November 14, 1945 • Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan-When Henry Cole returned from the war, he and Polly and Kathleen had an apartment together in Detroit during the year we [Helen and Joe Sainton] lived there, and Jess and Ed Early were there with their three children, Betty,
Teddy and Joan; and Carroll and Evelyn O'Keefe. Polly was married in Detroit, and her first housekeeping was done in a little apartment in Aunt Lizzie's big house in Oconto, where Bob was a County Agricultural Agent..

Age 62 — In-laws of Son Ted
1947 • Ganger drank Sanka coffee, read very late into the night and woke-up about 11:00 am
Ganger and Gampa never had a falling out. Ganger was very proper, and when Ted's inlaws came over from England & Gampa had to move around the house to make room for them, he finally asked Ganger, "Jesse, would you mind if I have the library?"

Age 66 — Vacation with Grandson
1951 • St. Petersburg, Florida
Ganger loved fine, expensive things and lived in a world of elegance. She was a voracious reader and Bill Andrews was her favorite grandchild, never disappointing her. After Bill and John recovered from chickenpox, she took Bill on a Florida vacation

Age 69 — Travel
1954 • Rome, Roma, Lazio, Italy
Canonization of Pope Pius X

Age 70 — Death of husband Edward James Early(1888–1955)
October 23, 1955 • Detroit, at midnight, found with arms out-stretched toward his large crucifix in his chapel / bedroom - Grandson John recalls the last time he saw his grandfather in Detroit in August 1955,

Age 70 — Sister's comment upon death of Husband
October 1955 • Detroit - Betty recalls Ganger's sister, Gertrude, talking about Gampa shortly after his death & saying that Gampa didn't amount to anything and it was just luck that he had become a millionaire. Betty stood up and said, "you can't say anything nice about him even when he's in his coffin."

Age 70 — Death of Husband
October 1955 • In front of Gampa's coffin, Gertrude, Ganger and Helen Sainton were sitting on the couch talking. Ganger said it was really Ted who made Michigan Drilling Company what it is. Gertrude said Ed never amounted to much and Ganger chimed in in agreement. Betty
looked at them & said you can't even say something nice when he's in his casket", and ran out of the room. According to Betty, Ted was not a business man and that's why he liked to go out with the men and drill.

Age 70 — Probate of Estate of Husband
1955 • Detroit Michigan
Betty stated that when her mother told her that Michigan Drilling Company was going to Jessica's daughter-in-law, Catherine Thomas Early, Betty told her mother, "we'll bring it to court." " Jessica said, "Oh, no." Betty then said nothing more after that.

Age 72 — Marriage Catherine Sainton
October 12, 1957
Other guests will include Mrs. Robert Amundson, Karen Amundson, aunt and cousin of Miss Sainton, New York CityMrs. Edward J. Early [Gampa had died in October 1955] and Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Early, Jr., Detroit [just days before Uncle Ted Died].

Age 72 — Death of son Ted
November 19, 1957 • Detroit - April 23, 2007 Ted's sister Elizabeth Jane Early Andrews ("Betty"), stated that when her mother, Jessica O'Keefe, told her that Michigan Drilling Company was going to Jessica's daughter-in-law, Catherine Thomas Early, Betty told her mother, "We'll bring it to court." Jessica said, "Oh, no." Betty then said nothing more after that.

Age 72 — Death of son Edward Carroll "Ted" Early(1916–1957)
November 19, 1957 • Detroit, Michigan

Age 73 — Residence
1958 • Nashville, Tennessee
Sold home in Detroit an d bought a home at 1001 Tyne Boulevard in Nashville for $25,000 from an Army Colonel named Wright to be close to her daughter Betty after her son's death in Detroit.
1 Media

Age 75 — Sale of Michigan Drilling Company
1960 about • Detroit
IRS was aware of Michigan Drilling and that Ganger sold it for $70,000 to Aunt Catherýne and Uncle Nevil when it was worth several million, but by then Ganger was almost bankrupt so there was nothing they did I suspect..

Age 76 — Residence
1961 • Mobile, Alabama
Ganger's brother Horace moved from Los Angles to her Nashville Tyne home & then they both moved to Mobile Al, Ganger buying a home there, Horace then returning to LA. Her grandson Bill lived with her and attended Springhill College there in 1964.

Age 79 — Grandson Bill Andrews at Springhill College staying with Ganger
September 1965 • Mobile, Alabama

Age 81 — Finances
1966 • Nashville, Tennessee
Ganger let money run through her hands. Ganger rented an apartment for a year before she moved back to Nashville because she feared that it would not be available when she did move.

Age 81 — Death of brother Horace Vincent William O'Keefe(1884–1966)
Abt. 1966 • Los Angeles, California

Age 83 — Residence
1968 • 4110 Tyne Blvd., Nashville, Tennessee
Ganger has called off her trip for good.to see Aunt Gertrude. It would have been too hard to make and besides they have very nice visits on the phone which is easy for both of them. Aunt Joan may still go up and see Aunt Gertrude anyway. .

Age 85 — Last years / Transfer of Tyne House to Daughter Betty
1970 • Betty felt that her mother was never in love with Gampa.
Betty told her son John in June 2005 that even shortly before Ganger died she talked of Hirom Fisk who was a Baptist and a wealthy Stanford University graduate and against whom she always compared Gampa.

Age 85 — Last Rights
July 15, 1971 • Nashville, Tennessee
A couple weeks before she died, Father John Hendrix gave her Extreme Unction and after that she asked why everything was aglow. She then said, it's my husband. He did this for me.

Age 85 — Death
30 Jul 1971 • At her residence, 1003 Tyne Boulevard, Nashville, Tennessee 10 P.M. Saturday, with her daughter Betty and granddaughters Joan and Susan present.
10 pm Saturday as the boys were returning from the farm. According to her daughter, Betty Jane Early Andrews, Ganger had just finished the book "The Cardinal" the night she died.

Burial
August 3, 1971 • Calvery Cemetery, Nashville-Grandson Bill: John was was the most sensitive of my siblings, the one who broke down and cried when Milton Evans, our black sharecropper, died. Years later when Ganger died it was John who broke down and sobbed. The irony
was that Ganger always showed more favoritism toward me, showered me with more gifts, and requested that I be the one to stay with her in Mobile. Of all my siblings, it seemed at the time that John had the greatest capacity for sentiment...

Daughters Betty and Joan
Betty: to me it's more important that brothers and sisters love each other then they love me. I've always felt that. But I heard Ganger say to that poor little Joan who never had anybody or anything, she said, "Betty took John out of engineering school. It was like Ganger didn't want us to like each other.

Marital Relationship
Ganger and Gampa never had a falling out. Gampa loved Ganger very much. Ganger was very proper, and when Ted's in-laws came over from England and Gampa had to move around the house to make room for them, finally he said to Ganger, "Jesse, would you mind if
I just have the library as my bedroom." That's why Ganger ended up sleeping in the large master bedroom upstairs and Gampa had his bed in the small library that he converted into the chapel where he died.

Grandparents
Daughter Betty -James and Julia were my grandmother's grandparents; however, she never mentioned them to my mother. I guess because Dr. O'Keefe died when my grandmother [Jessica O'Keefe] was young he didn't have a chance to take her to see her grandparents. They were from County Claire in Ireland; very wealthy and owned a lead-crystal glass works and a castle. They were Catholics, so no matter how prominent or wealthy they were, their children could not be educated in Ireland, so the family moved to Canada.

Green Bay Packers - Joseph Merrill Hoeffel
Ganger's cousin, Joseph Merrill Hoeffel, was the first coach of the Green Bay Packers, and her cousin, Admiral Kenneth Mortimer Hoeffel, was an Annapolis Graduate and prisoner of war during World War II.

Grandchildren
8/17/06 on her birthday daughter Elizabeth told daughter-in-law Susan that Ganger loved the French and wanted her grandchildren to call her "Grand'Mere" but the closest the grandchildren got was "Ganger". Seventeen (17) Grandchildren (9 Watts, 6, Andrews, 2 Early). Granddaughter Joan: "I remember Ganger's fur coat and being held by Ganger and rubbing my face in her fur."

Philosophy
Her daughter Betty said that her mother told her, "You don't have to have a lot of children to be fulfilled" (as if children are for you).

Letters and Writings - Jessica Early
Helen Cole: Oct 14, 1894 My dear Mamma-I received a letter from Jessie O'Keef last Wednesday and her birthday was the 9th of Oct. From your loving little Helen (Cole - at Boarding school)

Faith
Detroit - Her daughter Betty said that Ganger had faith, that she'd never go downtown without first stopping at St. Aliousious Church to say a rosary. Betty also recalls asking Ganger to say the rosary with her one night, to which Ganger responded, "ugh, you're just like your father."

Oconto, Wiscinsin
Mom's mother, Ganger, was the daughter of Patrick O'Keefe, a physician who graduated from Montreal's McGill University Medical School and set up practice in the small Wisconsin lumber town of Oconto.

In-laws
Ganger did not want to associate with Gampa's family since they were not from wealth and, consequently, when visiting Oconto, her daughter Betty rarely saw her Early cousins. She does recall, however, seeing her Early uncles fishing on Green Bay and the wives bringing baked pies and cakes to the beach for fish roasts.

Green Bay, Wisconsin
Ganger didn't appreciate the Early's. She was very aristocratic and thought the Early's were plebic. Ganger was so impressed by the English with the English accent. The family visited her family in Oconto but rarely the Early family in Green Bay.

Personality
Daughter Elizabeth Jane Early Andrews - Ganger never yelled or lost her temper and was always courteous to Gampa, but she had an obsession, Ted, rather than Gampa. Gampa put all of this aside. Ganger didn't treat him as a husband.

Description
She had very long very white hair that she would twist in a soft bun on on top of her head. Her perfume of choice - "My Sin" by Lanvin, and her lipstick was by Charles of the Ritz.

Description
Cathy Watts: Very proper, gentle, dignified lady. Loved to travel. Never left the house without dressing up hose, heels, white gloves, hat.

Age 15 — Death of brother John Sims O'Keefe (1893–1900)
b/4 1900