Vintage Views: An ocean apart, a lifetime together

There are times in life when the distance between you and the one you love simply does not matter. It can be the house next door or across the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Such is the case with Martin and Mary Ellen, a love born of innocence that concluded in a simple promise that was kept: to grow old together. And they did live happily ever after. Martin was a strapping young man born in the north end of Concord to two Irish immigrants who fled the potato famine in Ireland years before. He worked hard and knew the discipline of his Irish Catholic roots. He attended church and obeyed the commandments, attended school and lived the life his parents desired for him, with more opportunities than they themselves ever had. Young Martin was as rambunctious as any other boy and spent his summers along the banks of the Merrimack River, swimming and fishing as he dreamed of what would be.

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