What We Leave Behind: Four Generations in Cicero, Illinois (None of Them Knew Al Capone)

This is my story of discovering and meeting my great-grandmother through a recently discovered diary, kept from 1944 until 1958, and the subsequent story of my grandmother and mother growing up in Cicero, Illinois. It is a story that includes alcoholism and poverty, but mainly the resilience, faith and grace of four generations of women.   The tale, which began with my great-great-grandmother's birth in 1853, has humor, pathos, and tragedy, yet is ultimately miraculous in its twists and turns. (Also, as a small aside to Chicago baseball fans, my great-grandmother's first grandchild happened to marry Bob Kennedy, a White Sox player, Chicago Cubs manager, and father of Terry Kennedy, a four-time All-Star baseball catcher, just one of my great-grandmother's many great-grandchildren she left behind.)