A dinner table set for 13 was the rule, not the exception! Devout Catholics,
the church was a part of daily life. Married at the height of the depression,
it was the church that first brought Joe and Bertille together. They both hailed
from Irish Catholic families. Joe's father Patrick Walsh was born in Chicago, his father
immigrated from Ireland. His mother Agnes Reiner was the non Irishperson in the family,
her parents were from Germany.
Bertille's father, John Geary McEvoy immigrated from Ireland as a young child.
He was employed for 29 years as an engineer with the Chicago Fire Department.
He married Teresa Anne Donoghue, who shared his Irish heritage.