Eleanor D'Arcy Klee 1890-1967 and Bertel Bernard Klee 1890-1967

New addition about family get together in November 2008:

There was a lively, multigenerational turnout for a Klee/D'Arcy family celebration in Washington, DC on November 8, 2008. We had loads of fun. You can see and hear some of it on the brief video clip below by clicking on the link.  

Thanks to our family member Carole Bermeo Newcombe for organizing this event. Editor, Gerald D'Arcy Klee (D'Arcy)

  Video of family celebration of Eleanor and Bertel plus descendants, in Washington, DC on November 8, 2008

In the foreground of the video image you'll see and hear Barry (to the right) and D'Arcy to the left, with the lively sounds and actions of kids and grandkids in the background. Ken is operating the camcorder from across the table and it was he who posed the challenging question to Barry and D'Arcy that you'll hear. The video clip is cut short for lack of hard drive space. Video clips require huge amounts of hard drive space on the computer. The video ends while D'Arcy is about to describe the shocked street walkers seeing a young American soldier on the Champs-Elysées with a woman old enough  be his mother.  

Mother and D'Arcy 1946, Champs-Elysées with Arc de Triomphe in background 

The famous Paris Boulevard,  Champs-Elysées is one of the major thoroughfares radiating off the Arc .

 

                           

Barry and D'Arcy with mother in Paris, 1946

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Family History, Mom and Dad and us “kids” Final copy, November 11,, 2008, 10:35 PM

 

 

D’Arcy family Coat of Arms

(D’Arcy is an old Anglo-Norman name)

 

 

Klee Coat of Arms; this goes back hundreds of years

 

Our Mother, Eleanor D’Arcy Klee with her four kids on the front steps of our house at 6921 6th Avenue , Brooklyn , NY

L to R Fred, Barry, Eleanor “Lolly” and D’Arcy

 

 

 

Same steps, same kids, years later

L to R Fred, Barry, “Lolly”, D’Arcy, Mom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our father, Bertel Bernard Klee

 

L to R, Fred, Lolly, D’Arcy, Barry at D’Arcy’s home; 1994

 

Mom and D’Arcy in Paris , 1946, Location, Champs-Élysées, with Arc of Triumph in background

 

 

Barry, Mom and D’Arcy in Paris , 1946

 

    Mom and Dad, plus Lassie dog, during WWII when all their “kids” were away

 

Mother, at home in Brooklyn, circa 1957, by 1955, Mom was unable to walk (see discussion below)

She then taught herself to paint. This photo shows her with old Klee family paintings in the background and one of her own paintings to the far right.

 

Chronology:

 

April 1890, Eleanor D’Arcy born in Ireland and Bertel B. Klee born in California

 

1916, Eleanor and Bertel marry in New York City

 

1917, Raymond Barry Klee is born to Eleanor and Bertel.

 

1919, Frederick D’Arcy Klee is born

 

1923, Eleanor Jean Klee is born

 

1927, Gerald D’Arcy Klee is born

 

1967, Eleanor and Bertel pass away

Their gravesite at New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore

 

2003, Frederick D’Arcy Klee passes away

 

2005, Eleanor Jean Klee Bermeo passes away

 

Flashback:

 

In 1946, our mother, Eleanor D’Arcy Klee joined her sons Barry and D’Arcy in Paris . This was her first vacation since leaving Ireland as a young woman. She stored up many beautiful memories from this trip. After a few months of enjoying the wonders of Paris and other parts of Europe, mother returned to her life of unhealthy drudgery, working nights in unheated New York subway toll booths for twenty-five cents per hour. She started in this job during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, when Dad’s business failed. This was no job for an educated and highly intelligent woman, but jobs of any kind were hard to find during the depression and we needed food on the table. The job ruined her health.

 

In 1948, only two years after returning from Paris , she fell at home and fractured a hip.  I was home with her on summer vacation from college when it happened. She took it bravely. She was only 58 years of age at that time, but she had advanced osteoporosis, which weakened her bones. (She also had a history of severe rheumatoid arthritis, which recurred after her falls.) The broken hip did not heal and she used crutches until it was necessary to use a wheel chair. Along the way, she fractured the other hip and then a vertebra collapsed. She spent time in hospitals and years at home in bed with only our father Bertel to care for her. 

 

By 1960 mother was in constant pain and Dad was falling apart trying to care for her while he was having his own health problems. He was lucky to have a dog to take on walks. (The dog’s name was Lassie. She was a stray that Dad had found and brought home. You can see her in the photo above with my parents.)

 

Lacking financial resources (there was no Medicare at that time and doctors rarely visited nursing homes) mother was trying to get herself admitted to a New York City nursing care facility that was more like a snake pit.  For her sake and for Dad’s, I brought her to Baltimore and placed her in a good nursing home close to my Wickford Road home, where she had excellent round the clock nursing care.  She remained there until her death in 1967.

 

All the nursing staff loved her for her cheerfulness and graciousness despite her constant pain. She entertained visitors by reciting poetry and telling stories. She never grew tired of talking about the Paris Opera, which we often attended together, as well as the many wonderful sights she saw in Europe .  She died peacefully and almost cheerfully. On the night before she passed away, I heard her and her nurse singing—

 

“Swing low sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home”-.

 

After spending time at her bedside until late on the next night, I went home to get a bite to eat, but as I walked into my house, the nurse phoned and asked me to come back right away. I knew what that meant. I soon had the painful duty of declaring her dead. It was only a short time before Dad died from cancer. They are together again at New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore . You can see their gravesite among the images above.

 

A day seldom goes by when I’m not grateful that we “children” have not had to suffer what our parents and grandparents went through. All of our departed loved ones remain in my heart, as I’m sure they are in yours. Maybe there is something to the idea that we will all meet again.

 

Love to all,

D’Arcy

 

Footnote: GROWING UP IN A DOUBLE MATRIARCHY http://www.letreb.com/growing_up_in_a_double_matriarch.htm

Two great women who gave their all.

Mom and Aunt Cara, Dad’s “big” sister.