Ron Offen Shares Stories About Andy and Alex Shirreffs

Here's are some stories about Andrew Shirreffs (Andy) and Alex Shirreffs (pictured below in uniform) submitted by writer Ron Offen. Ron is pictured at the right.

Andrew, who lived in Chicago and once taught some kind of trade (perhaps lithography) at the Washburne Trade School in that city, was a very funny man and an incorrigible jokester.  I remember that my mother (nee Ellen Shiirreffs), dad and my two paternal grandparents went to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Beatrice's home for dinner on a Sunday. My paternal grandmother (Elsie Offen) had almost no sense of humor although she was a sweet and loving woman.   

At one point during the dinner Uncle Andy said to my grandmother Offen, who had just complemented Aunt Beatrice on the meal, "Yes it was a good meal, Mrs. Offen, but you should taste my specialty. It’s my stewed prunes and liver dish. I mix them into a kind of goulash. Absolutely delicious!" 

 To which my grandmother responded, "Yes, it does sound very good." Im sure she wondered why the rest of us were smirking and suppressing guffaws. 

Uncle Alex was quite different, although a bit of a rake, I assume, during his early life. After all, he was in the Merchant Marines in his youth.  I believe he worked for a Dutch oil company and I only met him a few times.  He had come to the United States with his illegitimate daughter, Nessie Shirreffs (herself a very interesting character).  

Aside from meeting both of them at Uncle Andy's at the dinner described above, we met them a few other times while they were in Chicago. Uncle Alex was a serious and earnest man who lived in Aruba as some kind of administrator for an oil company.  He may have been an engineer, but I'm not sure on this.  In any case he appeared very bright and dignified to my eleven-year-old eyes.  He offered to send me stamps for my stamp collection when he returned to his island home.  And to my surprise, he did just that.  In fact we corresponded for about a year. I can't, however, remember any of the contents or subject matter of the letters.  

Nessie Shirreffs (after the visit to Chicago) went back to Scotland, where she had lived up to that time. At the time I met her she was in her twenties, I believe.  She was supported by Uncle Alex for most of her early life but may have been supporting herself at this time (about 1941).  Later, after Uncle Alex retired she and her father went to live in Sunnyvale (I think) California. Then, after Uncle Alex died, she went back to Aberdeen, Scotland.  I met her there in the mid-1980's.

Stay tuned for more stories from Ron!