Mary Ellen Kearney shares memories of her life in Waunakee, centered around her historic family home which has served as a “refuge for people when times are hard” for generations.
Kearney, whose family earned a Century Farm award at the State Fair, recounts her childhood in the 1940s and 50s from playing “ditchum” and baseball with local boys to her first job at the town’s summer recreation program.
The interview provides a nostalgic tour of a developing Waunakee, featuring local landmarks like Rosenberg’s grocery store, Smitty’s Hall, and the local canning company. She reflects on the town’s evolving “spirit of connectedness,” her education at St. John’s, and her eventual career as a social worker. Through personal anecdotes about family, neighborhood safety, and community traditions, she offers a unique perspective on the history and heart of Waunakee. (1)
Condensed Interview Text
Family Background and Early Childhood
CONNIE BLAU: My name is Connie Blau and I’m here with Roger Bindl. We’re representing the Waunakee Area Historical Society and we have the privilege and honor to interview Mary Ellen Kearney here at her home—her fantastic museum home here in Waunakee. So we’ll start right out. Mary Ellen, tell us a little bit about your parents and their siblings.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Well, my mother was Mary O’Malley, and when she was living here, she was the oldest girl in her family. They didn’t have a high school in Waunakee at the time, so she had to take a train from Waunakee to Madison to attend high school. She lived with the family who had previously owned what later became the Bruenig farm in Madison while she went to college. After that, she moved to Chicago—I think she was so brave—working as a lab technician. Later, she moved to Elkhart, Indiana, which is where she met my father, Gerard Jordan. I love that name because it’s so pretty. He was a native of Elkhart, but his sales route covered the West. During those hard financial times, he and my mother took a trip along his route and got married in one of the mission churches out in California. That way, the family didn’t have to worry about planning a wedding
reception.
CONNIE BLAU: Was she Dave O’Malley’s sister? And what about your brothers and sisters?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Yes, she was Dave O’Malley’s sister. I don’t have any brothers or sisters. I was born on July 31st, 1942, in Madison. Because my father was leaving to take a job in Chicago, my mother and I came right here to this house straight from the hospital. It was very fortunate. This house has always been a refuge for people when times were hard. My grandfather had died the year before, so the only occupants at that time were my grandmother and my Uncle Dave. So we had a nice little family right here.
CONNIE BLAU: What did your parents talk about when you were growing up very young? What are your
earliest memories of life in Waunakee?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: My earliest memory was simply knowing that my daddy was in heaven. Uncle Dave stepped in and did all the things that a father would do. My mother would talk about my father, which was very interesting. Years later, a lady from the Ripp family who just turned 100 told me a lot about my father that I had never heard. I also grew up with my cousin Donald ‘Bud’ O’Malley, who came to live with us later in his youth.
Childhood Sports, Baseball, and Gender Exclusion
CONNIE BLAU: Tell us about growing up and the sports or games you played with other children in the
neighborhood.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: When I was growing up, I wanted to be a professional baseball player! I played with the neighborhood boys all the time, and I was never the last one picked. But then they started Little League for boys, and the fathers didn’t want their sons playing baseball with a girl. They believed that having a girl on the team would keep the boys from being as good as they could be. So I was left out, just going to the games and watching from the sidelines. I didn’t think that was fair at all. Years later, when I invited Mike Simon to serve on the historical committee, we were recalling those exact baseball games.
First Paid Employment: Summer Recreation Assistant
CONNIE BLAU: What was your very first job that you actually got paid for?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: My first job was my very best job! Before that, I had only babysat. When I was 14, I answered an ad in the Waunakee Tribune. Coach Troda was advertising that he was starting a summer recreation program in the park and wanted to hire a couple of assistants. I went to his house for a real job interview and told him about my babysitting experience, how good I was with children, and how much I enjoyed sports. I got the job, and Barbara Shaw was hired as well.
CONNIE BLAU: What are some of your earlier memories of Waunakee businesses—grocery stores, furniture stores, or taverns? What about Julie Dedric’s meat market across the street?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Grocery stores were very important in Waunakee. Rosenberg’s was on our side of the street, and Miller’s was across the street. I was always the designated grocery shopper, and I was strictly instructed to stay on our side of Main Street, so I became a regular customer at Rosenberg’s. In the front, they sold dry goods—shoes, clothes, books, and school supplies—and the back half held all the groceries. You could get anything you needed there, and I always did all my Christmas shopping at Rosenberg’s. Sylvester Adler ran the store after the original owners. It was wonderful because you could just say ‘charge it,’ and when the bill mounted up, they would come to the house for a check from grandma.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: As for the meat market across the street, Barney Dedric would let local kids watch him butcher pigs at the slaughterhouse right behind the market. Watching that made it so I couldn’t eat pork for the longest time! Eventually I got over it and shopped at the meat market regularly.
Employment at the Canning Company and Local Industry
CONNIE BLAU: Did you ever get involved with the local canning company in town?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Yes, as soon as I turned 16, I worked at the canning company. It was very
convenient because I just walked to work along the railroad tracks. I worked as a timekeeper. The best part was that farm wives would come in during the summer to a dedicated building and prepare wonderful lunches for workers. They cooked for local employees as well as busloads of Black workers brought in from the South. Part of my job was counting the cash, and I always received a special treat while doing it!
Social Life, Smitty’s Hall, School Days, and Parades
CONNIE BLAU: Tell us about going to school dances, early social life, and community parades.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Smitty’s Hall was our main center of entertainment. Every wedding reception therewas open to the whole town. On my first day of school, sitting alphabetically behind Leo Koltes, I had braids and Leo played with my braids all day long! I came home and told my grandmother I had a boyfriend named Leo Peter Koltes. Our class was made up mostly of farm boys, and they were truly the backbone of our class.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: My earliest parade memory was at the end of World War II. Someone mentioned
that one of the Ripp girls had broken her leg, and as a young child, I kept looking expecting to see someone
physically carrying a severed leg! Children were always the primary feature in all the local holiday parades.
Milwaukee Social Work Career and Meeting Steve Kearney
CONNIE BLAU: Tell us about moving to Milwaukee, your career path, and meeting your husband.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: I took a job in Milwaukee as a social worker trainee. The state had a program where they paid for your graduate school education and provided a monthly stipend in exchange for a two-year service commitment after graduation. Working in Milwaukee’s Black neighborhoods was a baptism by fire, but it was a fantastic way to earn my degree from UW Madison-BS and UW Milwaukee-MSW.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: In 1964, I met my husband Steve. He was originally from Brooklyn, New York, and had attended the same Catholic high school as Vince Lombardi until his father passed away. Steve joined the Navy, served in the Far East, and volunteered at a leper colony and a refugee hospital. We shared deep Irish Catholic values and got engaged at Vilas Park in Madison.
Community Spirit, Youth Activities, and Village Life
CONNIE BLAU: How has the village of Waunakee changed over your lifetime?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: What stands out most was the spirit of connectedness and community involvement. The Civic Club hosted Saturday afternoon cowboy movies, pancake suppers, Halloween events, and Boy and Girl Scout meetings at the village hall. They organized bus trips to Tenney Park for swimming lessons and trips to local roller rinks. You knew every single person in town and lived in a house where parents didn’t worry as long as you came home when the sun went down. I started riding my bicycle to school at age 7, parking it across from the church at Nick Miller’s house.
Party-Line Telephones, Early Television, and Card Games
CONNIE BLAU: What do you remember about party-line telephones, the arrival of television, and playing card
games?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Our telephone operators lived right in the same building as the Lamolie family. Phone numbers were very short—our home was number 80, and my Uncle Dave next door was 80 R2 (two rings). When the fire whistle blew at night, everyone called the operator to find out where the fire was, such asthe night Miller’s store burned down.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: We got our first television set when I was about 10, but before that, we watched wrestling matches down the street at the Ramish home. I learned to play card games like rummy and war at neighbors’ kitchen tables, and I actually learned how to count arithmetic as a young child by sorting poker chips for my grandmother’s real-money poker club!
Transition to Computers and Mental Health Work
CONNIE BLAU: When did you first encounter computers in your professional life?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: I first began working with computers when I took a position in Neenah. My journey back to Madison included working at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh—which felt like one big family—and managing state dialysis units when there were only seven units in the entire state of Wisconsin.
Parochial Schooling at St. John’s and Nuns’ Instruction
CONNIE BLAU: Did you attend parochial school here in town, and what was the attire like?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: I attended St. John’s Parochial School through eighth grade. In winter, girls had to wear dresses over blue jeans so our knees wouldn’t freeze, and we lived in constant fear of forgetting the dress and being chastised by the nuns! The nuns were wonderful teachers who taught English grammar and penmanship like no one else could. Because schoolboys practiced Latin altar prayers in front of the class, all of us learned the Latin responses by heart.
Driving, Family Farmland, and Century Farm Honor
CONNIE BLAU: Tell us about learning to drive and the family farmland that once surrounded this house.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: I learned to drive on our farm pickup truck and my mother’s stick-shift Chevy. Our original family farm extended from the railroad tracks up to 8th Street and across South Street. My grandfather donated the last lot on 8th Street for the town library. As the town expanded, my grandmother sold individual lots right from her dining room table, offering cookies to visiting children. Our property was officially recognized as a Century Farm at the Wisconsin State Fair for 100 years of continuous family ownership.
History and Architecture of the Kearney Family Home
CONNIE BLAU: When was this historic family home originally constructed?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: This house was built in 1855 (though some historical records cite 1853), and the front porch was added around 1910. Local artist Lois Ireland lived kitty-corner across the street and painted a picture of our house right from her front porch, depicting neighborhood children playing in the front yard.
Hospitality, Hobos, Ice Box Delivery, and Home Sanctuary
CONNIE BLAU: What final memories would you like to share about life in Waunakee?
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Growing up on a farm right in town was wonderful. We had 13 cats named after relatives (like Uncle Tom and Aunt Martha) and a cow named Mrs. Shaw! Neighbors regularly chatted on front porches or played on the grass tennis court next door.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Our home always maintained a spirit of open hospitality. Traveling workers (hobos) frequently stopped at our door. My grandmother would give them a small chore to complete before feeding them, and in bad weather, she would arrange for them to spend the night safely in the village center jail. I still call the refrigerator an ‘ice box’ because Jakey Filer used to deliver large blocks of ice to our house. My grandmother always felt indoor plumbing and running water were the greatest inventions of her lifetime.
MARY ELLEN KEARNEY: Most of all, this home served as a sanctuary for anyone in difficulty. When my
cousin Donald ‘Bud’ O’Malley was facing challenges in seventh grade, he came to live with us and grandma straightened him out. This house has always been a true refuge.
(1) Note: The opening summary and condensed narration – from subtitles in YouTube – were generated using Gemini Notebook. There may be errors and deleted parts. The YouTube video subtitles are complete but also could have spelling errors.