Linda Huesca Tully

Those Places Thursday: Pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Though in her later years my great-aunt Detty, Benita (McGinnis) McCormick, often reminisced about her trip to France and Ireland in 1913, I don’t recall her talking about her pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick (Gaelic for Saint Patrick’s Mountain and pronounced Crōk Patrick). Luckily, these photographs from her scrapbook show … Continue reading

Wisdom Wednesday: The Perils of Unlabeled Photos

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) I have spent the last couple of weeks poring over my great-aunt Benita (McGinnis) McCormick’s collection of photographs from her trip to France and Ireland, amazed by the almost unseen details that reveal so much more about her than she ever told us. But I am … Continue reading

Mystery Monday: Is this Lizzie Gaffney?

Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Gaffney (1884 – 1960) Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) “My cousin poses,” Benita wrote under this photograph, taken in western Ireland in 1913. Could this be Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Gaffney? Compared with the photo below, there seems to be a strong resemblance, but it is hard to say for sure. … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: She Had the Gift of Gab

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) A 23-year-old Benita McGinnis is lowered to kiss the Blarney Stone, Ireland, 1913. From her scrapbook. Though my great-aunt Benita (McGinnis) McCormick enjoyed her art studies in Paris during her 1913 trip to Europe, the photographs in her scrapbook hint that she was happiest in … Continue reading

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Benita in Paris

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) The photographs below are from my great-aunt Benita’s scrapbook, in which she reminisced about her first trip abroad. Here, a few of her memories of Paris. Benita McGinnis, possibly in the Bois de Vincennes, Paris, France, about 1913. 2″ x 3″ photograph from her scrapbook. … Continue reading

Traveling Tuesday: Benita Goes to Europe

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Benita McGinnis, about 24 years old, on the Cunard ocean liner R.M.S. Franconia, 1913. Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I look at these photos of my great-aunt Benita in Europe and realize they were taken exactly 100 years ago. After finishing her studies … Continue reading

Sentimental Sunday: A Blessed Christmas to You

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) “Early Mass,” by Benita (McGinnis) McCormick. Pen and ink over watercolor on parchment. Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Christmas 1922. Original in Benita’s scrapbook. Sometimes you just have to take some time off to make memories, not only remember them. And that’s why it’s been a bit quiet … Continue reading

The Day JFK Was Shot

I was a third grader at Saint Philip Neri Elementary Schoolin Chicago, Illinois, when the principal’s voice came over the public address system, announcing that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. She asked all the classes to stop what they were doing and join in prayer for our president. It was just … Continue reading

Friday’s Faces from the Past: The Photographers

“The Photographers” from the scrapbook of Benita (McGinnis) McCormick, 1908, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Over the past week, we have seen photographs from my grand aunt Detty’s (Benita McGinnis) scrapbook of her life’s memories. Today, we get to take a peek at some of the people who may – we are … Continue reading

Not So Wordless Wednesday: Much Ado about Benita, Part 2

Benita (McGinnis) McCormick (1889 – 1984) Second of a two part series The caption, as written in Benita’s scrapbook, reads, “Me and my dog in the play.” Art Institute of Chicago, 1910. In 1910, two years after playing the male lead in the Girls’ Life Class production of Romeo and Juliet, my grand … Continue reading