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A World War One Soldier’s Legacy Sharing Memories With Donna Foley

Donna Foley with a Picture of her Father Stephen J Reardon Sr in WWI Officer's uniform.
photo by Photo Provided
Donna Foley with a Picture of her Father Stephen J Reardon Sr in WWI Officer's uniform.
Wedding Photo of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Foley.
photo by Photo Provided
Wedding Photo of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Foley.
Piece of Wood from Quentin Roosevelt's Plane.
photo by Photo Provided
Piece of Wood from Quentin Roosevelt's Plane.
SJR with his adopted parents, Bridget and Frederick Reardon
photo by Photo Provided
SJR with his adopted parents, Bridget and Frederick Reardon
WWI photograph of Stephen J Reardon Sr. (hand in air)  with his unit.
photo by Photo Provided
WWI photograph of Stephen J Reardon Sr. (hand in air) with his unit.

Tuesday September 1, 2015

By Alyse Beauchemin

It is said that our past shapes our future. It is the stories and memories that survive and teach the next generation.  For 82 year old Donna Foley, the memories of her late father and World War One (WWI) veteran were delivered on her doorstep two years ago. After the death of her only sibling, Stephen J. Reardon Jr., she found herself in the possession of antique WWI artifacts, letters, certificates and uniforms from the Great War.  The artifacts are being donated to the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana so others can see the legacy left behind by the former Butte, Montana resident.
    Donna, sitting down in her home on a quiet afternoon, recalled past memories of her father and the extraordinary life he lived.  Donna Foley’s father Stephen James Foley was born on Christmas Day 1888 in Boston, Mass. At the age of four he was presumed the lone survivor of a family that died from a flu epidemic and was sent to an orphanage.  He was informed by a retired priest only months before his death that he had a sister but never got the chance to see her in person before he died. “Eventually Stephen was adopted by a young barren couple by the names of Frederick and Bridget Reardon,” Frederick and Bridget worked for a wealthy man in Boston who had a son about the same age as Stephen. The boys attended the Boston Latin School together and by this time Stephen had changed his last name to Reardon and received a scholarship to Harvard University.
    While Stephen was at Harvard Frederick Reardon accepted a job as a traveling chocolate salesman and moved with his wife to Montana. Bridget found herself at home and lonely because her husband was always traveling. Stephen, being the good son he was, transferred to the University of Montana from Harvard to be closer to his mother. “He was a good boy,” Donna stated. “His parents always came first. Especially because they were the ones that adopted him, raised him, clothed him and gave him the chance to get an education.” Stephen graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and was employed by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. “Now here is where my father stood out. You see everyone in the small town of Butte, Montana had nicknames: Teddy the Tout, Junior Wolf, but my father was Mr. Reardon,” Donna remarked with a proud smile. “If something happened in the mine he would go down into the mine.  His knowledge as an electrical engineer, would enable him to fix the problems. He saved countless lives and that is why he was known as Mr. Reardon.”
    On September 22, 1917, Stephen received the same card in the mail that 2.6 million other American boys had throughout the country. It was the draft card selecting him for military service in the United States Army during World War One.  He was later shipped overseas as a U.S. Army Infantry Corporal in Butte’s Second Splendid Quota of 317. As a Non Commissioned Officer he served in the trenches of France and Germany. There were two unique historical events he had the privilege of being present for.
   Donna Foley pulls a small object out of her pocket.  It is a small piece of wood no bigger than a theater admittance ticket and on it in tiny ink is written:
Piece of Wood from Quentin Roosevelt’s Plane who Fell in Battle. The World War. S.J.R.
Quentin Roosevelt was President Theodore Roosevelt’s son who was shot down by the Germans in WWI.
    There was one more special story, that  that my father would always tell me. When he was a corporal in the trenches fighting the Germans, there was a truce on Christmas. While millions have heard the story of the Christmas Truce that occurred in 1914, Foley relates that family stories tell of a second one in 1917 and her father shared the story of troops stopping hostility and singing from the German lines. Stephen Foley’s officers did not like the idea of a truce and ordered the Americans to keep firing .Foley and most of the men honored both the truce and the order by firing into the air but not at any moving targets.
    Another treasure passed on to Donna Foley is a very beautifully framed sketch of a snowy town. “They gave this to my father,” she smiles. “In Alsace Lorraine, France they camped near a village that was starving to death and my father ordered his men to share their rations with the people. As a gift of gratitude, the mayor of the village gave my father this drawing to take with him. A big gift considering those people had nothing.”
    After the United States Army learned Stephen Reardon was college educated they sent him to officer’s training school. He was honorably discharged as an infantryman and promoted to Second Lieutenant on July 9, 1918 at the end of the course.  Reardon stayed at that rank for the rest of the war and was finally officially honorably discharged from the United States Army sometime after the end of the war.
    Stephen Reardon headed back to his home in Butte, Montana after the war to continue his job as an Electrical Engineer for the ACM Company. He married Myrtle MacKillican on April 18, 1927, and they had two children, Stephen J. Reardon, Jr., a future high school teacher, Judo Grand Master and 2001 Olympic Torch Carrier and Donna Reardon, who would end up marrying Teddy the Tout’s son, Edward Foley. “I met my husband when I was seven years old,” Donna Foley shares, “He was my brother’s best friend. they were in Boy Scouts together.” And apparently Teddy Foley and Stephen J. Reardon, Sr. were good friends too. “My father admired Teddy and vice versa. They were both admirable in different ways. While my father was college educated, Teddy had to leave school in the fourth grade to help his family. That being said, my father never knew anyone who could think quicker on their feet or had better street smarts.” Teddy’s son, Edward who would later receive a doctorate in physics married Stephen Reardon, Sr.’s daughter and taught at St. Michael’s College.
    Stephen Reardon, Sr., standing at five feet, five and a half inches with black hair and icy blue eyes lived a remarkable life filled with selflessness, tragedy, bravery and happiness. He is remembered as a husband, father and grandfather through his daughter, Donna Foley, and his legacy will live on forever through the Montana Historical Society. Stephen Reardon died on August 26, 1968  His stories give the family a link to the past and his descendants a window into an era of changes in technology and how the world was to run. He leaves his great-granddaughter a lesson in how one person shapes not only their own destiny but plays a role in the future of the nation.


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