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| One of The Original 500 |
Donated by Jack Melanson
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| Samuel Patrick Ryan Regt # 884 Edinburgh Castle, Scotland 1915 |
Samuel's Medals and Insignia British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1914-1915 Star |
| Before the war, Sanuel was trained as a tailor. After the war, he emmigrated
to New York City, where he met and married Johanna Curran of Holyoke, Massachusetts,
who was a nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital. They moved to Westfield, Massachusetts,
outside of Springfield and next to Holyoke. He initially owned a small sundries
store, but when prohibition ended, he secured a license to commercially
distribute alcohol (Schiltz beer was the big seller) and owned a retail
liquor store. Both entities are still in existence: Commercial Distributors
and Ryan's Liquors, but are not owned by the family. He was involved in
local politics, and was a city councilor and de facto force behind the cities
parks & rec program. He was a small man, perhaps 5'6", and loved athletics. He had a huge park installed across the street from his house: Municipal Field, which still exists, with about 10 clay tennis courts, basketball courts, childrens monkey bars etc; a couple dozen horseshoe pits, a baseball field, football field with concrete stadium (still standing). His most famous endeavor was the public rink, flooded every night by folks willing to stand in the cold with a bottle of canadien whiskey supplied by him. The rink was about a 1000 feet by 500 feet, next to the hockey rink with boards. He loved to skate, and he loved hockey.
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| Samuel's Family |
Johanna Curran of Holyoke,
Massachusetts |
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Military Records Contact: Sherwin Flight
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