Frances Kiley

My maternal Grandmother, Frances Kiley was an amputee. She had her
baby, ring and a portion of her middle finger crushed in a industrial
laundry wringer at Whytes Laundry, Salem, MA in the 1920's.

She parlayed the insurance settlement into the Kileys Rest Home on
Rogers Ave in Lynn which she operated until the late 1960's.

She was an indomitable woman with a penchant for gambling. She ran the
home, a low level nursing home, with her children
.
She would also use her grandchildren who were wont to steal the thick
slices of cheddar off the supper trays they delivered on the helps night off.

She suffered no fools and could curl her remaining fingers into a bony
crudgel which could stun the tardy and recalcitrant. She was a two
boater, arriving in Canada first from Ireland and then literally
walking to Massachusetts.

When I came home from Nam, she looked at how I was getting along and
she commented, "It weren't so bad."

She had seen her amputation as a way out of
poverty and an opportunity to a better life. It would take me awhile
to be that optimistic.

She was good to me and we shared a unusual bond at the end of her
life. I love her and miss her.