Nana was a Teetotaler

Annalene Gertrude (O'Leary) Walker

(1908-2000)

My Nana was 100% Irish and also a very proud Teetotaler!  (Teetotaler: a person who never drinks alcohol.) To some this may seem an oxymoron but to Nana this made perfect sense and something she was very proud of. She was often heard saying, 

“ I never even had a sip of wine on my wedding day!”

Annalene O'Leary and William Walker November 24, 1932

So why did Nana think it was so important to never take a  drink? She was 10 years old when Prohibition became the 18th Amendment. Having grown up during prohibition she must of been surrounded by people in her community who thought it was morally wrong to drink alcohol and who thought of people who drink as unsavory types. 

Nana would not want anyone to think badly of her. She married in 1932 the year before prohibition ended. So of course she would not break the law at her own wedding! Nana was 100% Irish. The O'Leary clan comes from County Kerry, Ireland. I  think many Irish are sensitive to the commonly held stereotype of the drinking Irish. Maybe she wanted to break that stereotype! 

The main reason I think Nana never let alcohol pass her lips is because of her father. Her father, Florence O'Leary was an alcoholic. He was a night watchmen at the Lonsdale Bleachery, Lincoln, RI. Sometime in 1918 Florence  had an accident at his work. He was burned over most of his body. Nana never said whether he was intoxicated when he had his accident but that is how I imagined it happening. He could not be cared for at home because his injury was so great. He was sent to Howard State Hospital for Mental Disease in Cranston, RI where he stayed for 4 years until he died from a stroke at age 51. Nana was a 10 year old child when her father was injured in 1918.  She would of  witnessed all the hardships experienced by her mother, Catherine (Burke) O'Leary as she tried to keep her large family of 6 children together without the help of her husband. Today we are fortunate to have unemployment insurance, Social Security , The Red Cross,  Food Banks etc.. to help with disasters. This was not the case 100 years ago. As for Nana, she lived a long healthy life. She married and had 3 boys of her own and passed away when she was 91. And she never did have a taste of alcohol!

Catherine Burke C. 1900

Florence O'Leary Death Certificate 

June 8, 1922

Lonsdale Bleachery Mill

Scrap Book Pages made by Robin Walker-Maya c.1988