Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-08
IRISH BRIDES
WON BY MANY
U. S. SAILORS
Romances Follow Quickly
at Base of u. S. Flotilla,
Somewhere in Ireland"

case American Flotilla in British
Waters, Jan. 27.-(Correspondence)-
Every part of the United States has
supplied a hero in love that
have eliminated in happy marriages
between American bluejackets and
blue-eyed Irish maidens since the ar
rival of.the American destroyer forces
in the south of Ireland. After the
war every part Of the United States
from Maine to California and from
the Great Lakes to Florida will boast
of an Irish bride who was wooed and
won in her native land by an Ameri-
can sailor.
All of the brides are looking for
ware to that happy day when they
will see what their husbands so
proudly proclaim as Gods country
piled his Irish bride with all necessary
documents to establish her identity as
an American and some have even had
their property in the United States
transferred to their wives as a precau-
ton in cas- they lose their lives for
their country.
There is the marriage of a former
ranchman, Bert Adams, to Brigid
O'Rourke, whose family descends
Adams, who is a boilermaker on one
OF the d~estroyers, halls from Hugo,
Colorado. He is now arranging to
have his ranch in Colorado decided to
his wife as a precaution in the event
of his being t%orpedoed. His wife's
relatives live in Bruce, county LINER
lex, and there is plenty Of anecdote
connected with the family's relation
to the O'Rourkes of kingly fame. II
Mrs. Adams told the Associated Press
correspondent, but I am preparing
myself for the fair land Bert has told
me so much about by studying a his
tory of Colorado"
Then there is the case of Mary
Ridge, head waitress at the leading
hotel here, who lost her heart to
Harland G. Richie, a machinist's
mate, first class, of Allston, Mass.
She was one of the most popular girls
in town.. h dining room over which
she presided is out Of bounds to en-
listed men but Richie contrived to
see her when she was off duty. They
knew each other for four months be-
fore MI. Richie led her to the altar
of the village church.
But the record for love at first
sight among the Americans belongs to
a young seaman, Paul .Valachovic by
name, who used to work in the ma
chine shop of the General Electric
company at Schenectady, N. Y. He
fell in love the first day he stepped
ashore here from his destroyer. Ada
Jones. a Cork girl, was the object of
Cupid's dart. After the war Vala-
chovic is going to take her back with
him to that thriving city in New York.
A few of the Americans first met
their wives on visits to England.
Charles Harmon Cobia of Charleston,
S. c., fell in love. or the beautiful
| Cornish Civioco with Al, C;1La~k -
widow of "a, whose home was in
Plymouth. Another English bride is
Nora Elizabeth Kit, who was married
to Joseph w. Highfeld of Des Moines,
Iowa.
But the majority of the Americans
married Irish girls who lived in the
vicinity of the American naval base
and whom they met at the dance hall
or roller skating rink. Thus Doris
Vincent Flavell OF Hanover. Mass.
and Mary Ellen Sullivan has become
the wife Of Thomas A. Balschi OF
Mount Carmel, Pa. After the wal
Mary O'Keefe, who became the wife
of Edward c. Turner, expects to de-
sert the trying climate Of southern
Ireland, for that sunny San Jose, Cal.
which is her husbands home. Will
liam S%paulding of DeLand, Fla, has
married Ester Allen, while Oral E
Cox of lola, Kan, won the hand OF
Phyllis Rose Rogers.
Among others of the American sail.
ors who have taken to themselves a
wife over here are Benjamin j. Moore
of Dallas, Texas; Ebert r. Bicking.
ham of Pensacola, Fla; Harry E
Holder of Denver, Colo, and Michae,
j. Della Roco of Schenectady, N. Y
And the list gives promise of growing
steadily,