My Great-Grandmother was Elizabeth Louise McArdle.
Birth:
Elizabeth was born on 20 Oct 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts to Patrick James McArdle and Sarah Ellen Kelly (Kelley).
Marriage & Children:
She married (maybe – not sure if it was an “official” marriage), George Edward Villemaire sometime in the 1920’s. The 1930 Census shows that Elizabeth was married to an Edward Velme (see page for George Edward Villemaire Sr.).
She had two sons with George:
George Edward Villemaire (1924-1962)
Henry John Villemaire (1926-2003).
She married Joseph Julian Flink (1910–1948) in 1933.
Elizabeth and Joseph had one son:
Robert “Bobby” Stephen Flink (1933-2008). Bobby worked for Nick’s Comedy Shop for many years. He never married and has no children.
Occupation:
Elizabeth, known to everyone as Betty, worked for Steuben’s Resteraunt in Boston for many years.
According a newspaper article in The Boston America Newspaper from 4 April 1960 that was about Betty’s brother, Boston Police Capt. John McArdle, “…Saul Kaplan, became acquainted with a waitress who everybody seemed to love and respect – Mrs. Betty Flint, sister of Capt. McAdrle.
Betty was the only girl in the McArdle family of ten. She has been married twice, widowed twice, and has six grand-children.”
Though they referred to her as Betty Flint instead of Flink, I had already sourced many documents showing that Betty was the sister of Capt. John McArdle and that she had worked at Steuben’s for a number of years. A city directory shows that she retired from Steuben’s.
Death/Burial:
Elizabeth died 4 Jan 1985. Many years ago I located a record stating she was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, MA – where her parents and some of her siblings are buried. Back then I wasn’t citing all of my sources (I since learned my lesson – CITE YOUR SOURCES) and have been unable to verify that she is buried there.
Other Information:
I was fortunate enough to meet my Great-Grandmother before she passed. I was young and had not yet been bitten by the Genealogy bug. I did not ask any questions about her parents. I remember she smoked and talked about how women couldn’t smoke in public when she was young. She also spoke about how she liked to wear slacks long before women were allowed to wear slacks in public. She had been diagnosed with Cancer (bone cancer if I recall correctly) and passed away soon after I first met her.
I also want to note that there is another Elizabeth McArdle, born 1 Jan 1909, who also lived in Boston. I actually had to go so far as to create a different tree to be able to keep track of records for the two Elizabeth’s. The other Elizabeth was a very good swimmer according to many newspaper articles I have found. If you by chance are looking for Elizabeth born in 1909, let me know. I have a number of pieces of information you might be interested in.
As with most of my family from the Boston area, I do not have any photos of Betty and really do not have much information other than what is on this page.
I was searching eBay one night for Steuben’s and someone was selling a drinking glass from the 1960’s. I purchased it and it now sits in my kitchen. I like to think that maybe she served a drink to someone in that glass one day long ago.