Engagements

Finke – Abernethy 

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Finke of York, Nebraska, announce the engagement of their daughter, Nicole Ann Finke, to Samuel Pierre Abernethy, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel F. Abernethy of Stamford, and formerly of Rye.

 

The future bride is a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines. She is employed as a research associate at Fidelity Management and Research Co.

 

The future groom, who is known as Pete, is a graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. He will start a contract position at Fidelity Management and Research Co. in mid-May. 

 

They will be married July 14 at St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines. 

Weddings

Peters — MacVicar

 

Jill Peters and Scott MacVicar were married February 4 at American Yacht Club in Rye, N.Y.

 

The bride is the daughter of Peggy and Jonathan Peters of Rye. The groom is the son of Sandra and John MacVicar of Gourock, Scotland.

 

The bridesmaids were Molly Peters, the bride’s sister, Sarah Forbes, Anna Kislevitz, and Georgia Wright. The groomsmen were Stuart Hitchcock, Jonathan Peters, Grant Matthews, and Matthew Wade. Euan Gallagher was the ring bearer.

 

The couple met through mutual friends in Manhattan five years ago.

 

Mrs. MacVicar graduated from Connecticut College and is currently a student at the NYU Stern School of Business.

 

Mr. MacVicar graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland.

 

The couple lives and works in Manhattan. They plan to take a honeymoon this summer.

The Boat Not Taken

By Frank Harrigan

Early one morning in April 1912, Ellen (“Ellie”) and John Walshe, who were 15 and 16, bid farewell to their parents and brothers and sisters and left home in Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland for America. Their route would take them through Castlebar, then Galway, Limerick, Cork, and finally Queenstown, now known as Cobh, a distance of about 180 miles.

 

Before they left, their mother gave Ellie a hand-knitted Aran sweater in which she had enclosed a gold sovereign in an inside pocket and sewn closed for safekeeping. The sovereign was worth $25, which would enable them to disembark in New York instead of having to go through Ellis Island. 

 

Three of their sisters had crossed the Atlantic before them and were settled in New York, in a brownstone on East 126th Street. Mary, the eldest, had obtained the position of cook at the residence of Mr. Henry A. Goode of Loudon Woods, in Rye. 

 

The early White Star Line steam ships departed every Wednesday from Queenstown to drop off mail and pick up passengers leaving Ireland.

 

With documents clutched in their hands, Ellie and John awaited the ship that would take them to America. After a while they heard the sound of a steamer’s horn blowing and saw a large vessel with four stacks approaching. Soon there was a lot of movement on the docks — people were going in all directions — and the large vessel docked amid much fanfare.

 

As passengers started going up the gangplank, Ellie said, “Let’s skip this boat and get the next one, John.”

 

They did and boarded the Baltic Rose, which docked in New York days later. Their Aunt Mary was there to greet them and take them up to the apartment.

 

Shortly afterwards, Mary asked her sister Ellie to come to Rye and work with her. It was there my mother met a member of the Rye Police Department, my father.

 

We’ve been here ever since.

 

Oh, the boat that Mom suggested they skip, was the Titanic.