History Hotdish Ep. 33 - The Oleary Family

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to History Hot Dish, a casual conversation about the
historic people and events that give Bismarket's unique flavor. History
Hot Dish is brought to you by the Bismarck Historical Society,
a local nonprofit whose mission is to learn, preserve, and
promote the history of Bismarck. Sit back, turn up the
volume and enjoy another helping of History Hot Dish.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome to another episode of History Hot Dish. I'm your
host Kate Waldera, a member of the Bismarck Historical Society's
Board of Directors. Today's episode is a special version of
History Hot Dish where we feature another important project of
the Bismarck Historical Society, the Prairie Pioneers Early Families of

(00:44):
Bismarck Programs. The Prairie Pioneers Project is a video collection
of twenty interviews with current family members from some of
Bismarck's early and influential families and residents. The Prairie Pioneer's
Early Family Only's a Bismarck project was funded through a
donation by Chad and Stacy Walker of Bismarck, a Cultural

(01:07):
Heritage grant through the State Historical Society of North Dakota
and donations from local history enthusiasts. The project was done
in collaboration with Matt Fern and his team at the
Creative Treatment. Matt is joining me today in the studio
to help bring you another tasty helping of history hot dish,

(01:29):
and of course, another wonderful partner in this project has
been the Dakota Media Access, where you can find each
of The Prairie Pioneer's original ten episodes, along with ten
new families and their stories of Bismarck that began airing
on Community Access in December. Matt, thank you for joining

(01:49):
me today to share some of your work with our audience.
For your listeners, please take a moment to introduce yourself
from the role that you played in this wonderful collection
of interviews and videos.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Thanks for having me, Kate. I'm Matt Fern. I'm born
and raised here in Bismarck. It's my favorite city in
the whole world, and I've been running the Creative Treatment
for about fifteen years here in Bismarck. We do a
lot of ads across the state and across the country,
as well as podcasts and documentaries. My main my main

(02:24):
passion has always been telling the stories of North Dakota.
I did a docuseries called Daily to Codin that kind
of started out my whole, my whole filmmaking career, and
so when the opportunity to do Prey Pioneers came up,
I jumped on it. A lot of these names Walked
or Woodman, see, they have been around, you know, the

(02:46):
Bismarck community, my whole life, and so to put a
face to the name, to humanize and to actually hear
the story behind those names was really exciting, and so
I'm very grateful to be part of the project. And
it wasn't just me. I have a great team working
with me as well as the Bismarck Historical Society and
Dakota Media Access. But this has been just a really

(03:09):
awesome project where the Bismarck community has come together and
some of the histories.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Of these families have just been very unique, very interesting,
and as always, everyone learns a lot of about the
families and their important part that they played well. Today's
episode of History Hot Dish will focus on the Oleary family,
a name familiar to golf enthusiasts and Bismarck. We will

(03:39):
hear from Marylyn Oliery lips about growing up with a
professional golfer for a father. What is what type? What
can you share about this particular episode.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Matt, I think that my memory of this episode that
stands out is just Marilynd's energy and Marylanders we've filmed
this at her house. I forget her age. I think
she's in her nineties and just so incredibly generous, so
incredibly smart, and so many stories of the impact of Bismarck. Well,

(04:19):
the one story that I really like that she tells
is the naming. Not only is Tom O'Leary golf course
named after her father, but Riverwood Golf Course was something
that she named in a naming contest.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yes, yes, and then she got all her five I
think five children signed up.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
For golf for golf, yeah, And so that was really
interesting that I had no idea that that she not
only was part of one, but two, you know, big
golf courses in Bismarck. And then also just the stories
of her father, Tom O'Leary. I never knew him, obviously,
but he sounded like quite the character. And I remember

(04:59):
her talk about you know from I don't know if
this right term, but she used it the bums to
you know, the politicians. Everyone was welcome at their house.
And I thought that was really interesting of a guy
that was part of Bismarck on all classes, all types
of community members. And every day I drive by Tom

(05:21):
O'Leary and I do you think of Marilyn and her dad?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
And then two famous professional golfers, Sam Snead and Arnold
Palmer visited Bismarck, and to be honest, I cannot remember
which one, but he asked them do you remember me?
And one of them said I remember anyone who beat me?
And I thought that was so interesting. I think it
was Arnold Palmer that said that to him.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, I think so right.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, well, and with that we've teed up for another
episode of history of history Hot Dish and the Prairie
Pioneers O'Leary family.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
Paul would run into Arnold Palmer and you know, he'd say,
well do you remember me? Arnold? You know, he said,
I remember everyone that beats me. He said, you're Paul
o' larry. And that's when Arnold Palmer was getting pretty famous.

Speaker 5 (06:14):
To John o'lary served under Lieutenant Colonel George Custer. In

(06:59):
his wife Mary Catherine was a midwife at Camp Pancock.
Their first son, Jack, was born in eighteen seventy two.
Their younger son, Tom was born in eighteen eighty two
and became a professional golfer. In nineteen sixty nine, The
Tom O'Leary Golf Course was named in his honor.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
My uncle Jack I never knew him, of course, he
was gone it when he was ten years old. He
died of smallpox. He was the first white boy. I
don't know. There could have been Native American. There was
a white girl that died first. And then he was
born right now in Camp Hancock, right here in Bismarck

(07:43):
on Main Street, and that was the only hospital. Saint
Alexis wasn't built yet, and my grandma was the midwife there.
She delivered babies, and my grandpa came. He was in
the Silver Ble Civil War under Abe Lincoln in Virginia.

(08:05):
He had come over from Ireland and was with the army.
He came up here with custers service, you know, That's
how he made us living in the army. So they
went to Fort Rice. That's where he was stationed at
Fort Rice. Then they lost six children in one week

(08:29):
of smallpox. But then Grandma o'liary. Her name was McCarty
and she was from Castle, Ireland, in County Kerry, Ireland.
She had thirteen children and six died in one week

(08:50):
of the smallpox, and they had seven more and my
dad was the youngest. Tom Olarry was number seven after
six the thirteenth, he would be the thirteenth. He went
through the third grade. My dad did. I don't know
where he went to school. He never talked about it.

(09:14):
He had seven children then, you know, he thought, I've
got to find a job. And there was an opening
at the golf course and he had to, you know,
survive with all those kids to raise. So he applied
and he really didn't know how to play much golf,

(09:34):
but he learned. He was a good athlete. He was
a boxer and a wrestler, and so they hired him
in the twenties, way back in the twenties. Yeah, I
don't know what he'd how. I got lessons once, they said.
While he was in California, Walter Hagen he talked to

(09:56):
and showed him a little bit, but he didn't know
too much about it. He learned on his own. Mostly.
He went to California after he had how many kids
were there my oldest See, there's twenty four years between
my older sisters and me, so I didn't know about

(10:18):
all this until I got older. But they went to
school in California. They took the train out there in
the dirty thirties. I think everyone was moving, you know,
like the grapes arath. They all wanted to get out
of the depression, and they went to Long Beach. I

(10:40):
believe it's where they went. And my oldest sister graduated
from high school there, Nadine. She won the state golf
tournament eight times before she was thirty two. Then she
got mis and had that until she was seventy eight.
On that one with Harold J. Wright, we walked every place. Yeah,

(11:05):
we never owned a car ever, and my dad never drank.
He never touched liquor ever. We were teetotalers. Always no
liquor in our house because his dad that I was
sure known to drink. In that well, thirteen kids and
six die in a week. I think I'd drink too.
You know, that was you know in those days. I

(11:29):
mean it was tough and they were poor.

Speaker 6 (11:33):
A reminder for our guests that have joined us. You're
listening to a special serving of History Hot Dish on
Radio Access one or two point five FM. I'm Matt Fern,
a producer of Prairie Pioneers, and I have joined the
host of History Hot Dish, Kate Wildera, in the studio
here at Dakota Media Access to discuss the Bismarck Historical

(11:54):
Society's video series titled Prairie Pioneers.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Hey, it was a little shack over here, one bedroom
and there's seven kids, but they were spread out, you know.
There were davenports all over where people had to sleep.
You know, everything was mud. I prayed for cment sidewalk
for Christmas. That's all I wanted. And my kids can't

(12:20):
believe that. Mom. What, Well, that's important when you're a
young kid to have, you know, a boyfriend come to
pick you up in this muddy path coming up to
your house, you know. And there are papers all over
the floor because Mom would scrub the floor always and
have to put newspapers down so you could walk, you know.

(12:41):
And it was just one no basement, nothing, just a cellar.
You pull the cellar door up and look down. It
was a dirt down there with ough cobwebs and oh,
I just should shut that right away. Yeah, so just
one bedroom, a little tiny closet for all of us. Yeah,

(13:01):
but we made it. All I did was ice skate.
I live for skating. I broke my nose at seven
right here. You can see the cut in it, and
it was just hanging off. And I went home and
to Paw, I said, Pa, look at my nose is

(13:22):
cut off. Somebody skated, got a skate right across it,
and he put a band aid on it. I didn't
go to the hospital. Nothing. We never went to the
hospital in those days. You ever. You know, well, nobody
had insurance or doctor Roan was his good friend. You know,
Roan comrades and all the comrades, and he would stop

(13:46):
there and they used to have the barter system. You
do something for me. There was no money exchanged. You'll
no bills. You didn't get a bill in the mail.
And my dad would give him go lessons and he
would operate on one of the kids in need, appandics
or something. There was no money exchanged. Pa said, there's

(14:08):
a chand shake. Your word was good, and you give
what you can do, and they give their expertise and
what they can do. And that's the way it was then.
My mom's name was Genevieve Peterson o'larry. She was born

(14:28):
in Minnesota. I think it was Bald Eagle Lake. She
was born around White Bear Lake in Minnesota. My mom,
she was a saint. She went to church every day
of her life. She was a convert to. She was Methodist,
and she took Potter. When they were first married. She said, well,

(14:50):
you come to my church. Well he fell asleep in church,
so let's see. He said, you come to my church. Well,
then she became a Catholic. She converted, you know, and
we lived close to the cathedral. Just walk over there,
you know. Yeah. And there was a skating rink down
there too, in the warming house. My dad watched that

(15:13):
in the winter. So he said, these kids tie knots
in their skates just so I have to untie them.
But he'd sit around and talk, you know, stories to
the kids and that. Yeah, and he would trust me
in the pro shop when I was in the seventh
and eighth grade to watch the pro shop. You know,

(15:36):
I'd sell tickets and teas and golf balls, and you know,
he'd put trust in me, which that was kind of nice.
He said, you get out there and practice practice, and
you know, it wasn't pretty right now everything's green and plush,
and you know the tom o'larry's all green. It was

(15:57):
tumbleweeds and bull snakes, that's all. And I had to
get out there all by myself because nobody. No girls
played till I got a boyfriend, Ellen ben Huven, till
we play golf together. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
Helped tell the stories of Bismarck's past and become a
financial sponsor of this program. Contact info at Bismarck History
dot org to learn more.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
I was the youngest. I was a spoiled brat, of course,
you know, because Paul was ten years older than me.
You know, there was a boy, Dennis.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
He died.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
He would have been four years older than me. He
died a strap throat at two, and they didn't have
penicillin then, you know, so they cut a hole in
his throat. At That was in the early thirties, you know,
before I was born in thirty seven. I wish he
would have lived. He would have been four years older.

(17:00):
But the next was Paul. He was ten years older
than me. So oh, they said, you, yeah, you had
it easy. Paul was a lot more strict with us,
you know. But yeah, I didn't give him any trouble
or anything. Paul went on the golf circuit when he
was twenty. He'd won the state golf three times sixteen

(17:24):
seventeen eighteen, and then he worked for a year to
get some money so he could go on the tour.
He worked at Gamble Gambles I think it was, and
then Harold Schaeffer sponsored him on the golf circuit for
five years. He helped and he put on his golf bag.

(17:48):
He had gold seal glass wax, you know, advertising for
Harold Chafer. So then he went into the army though,
and gotten special services over in the Philippines and he
didn't have to fight or anything. My older brother was
in Ewajima fighting in the Marines at seventeen, and they

(18:14):
always would fight about that. They were just two years apart.
Said you didn't have to go in the service, you know,
you were in special services. He played in golf tournaments
while he's in the service that didn't seem fair and
track meets and that. But then when he got out,
then he went back on the pro circuit and played

(18:34):
with Arnold but he beat Arnold Palmer in Ryan, New York.
That's when Arnold was just starting, you know, and he
used to see him down in Florida. He'd go to
the Jackie Gleeson in very classic back in the sixties,
I think I was, and Paul would run into Arnold
Palmer there and you know, he'd say, well, do you

(18:56):
remember me? Arnold? You know, said I remember everyone that
beats me. He said, you're Paul o' larry. And that's
when Arnold Palmer was getting pretty famous too. And then
Sam Snead too came up here and hunted with my dad,
and because my dad loved more hunting better than golfing. Really,

(19:20):
he loved to hunt, and they went down to Selfridge.
But I don't have pictures, you know that. You know,
nobody took pictures much, so that's a shame. We don't
have a picture Sam Snead up here. Sam would play golf.
He'd take his shoes off when his feet would get

(19:41):
sord and play golf in his bare feet. Nobody knows that,
I don't think. Well. Lawrence walk was still in Strasbourg
then he was just playing little gigs around North Dakota,
I think, and he always kind of looked up to
Paul Cook. And Paul Cooke was a cousin of ours.

(20:05):
His mother was Julia O'Leary. That's how they're connected. My
dad Tom and his sister Julia married William Cook and
he was the sheriff of Bismarck, Bill Cook, and that
was his oldest son, doctor Paul Cook. He got a

(20:26):
scholarship to Northwestern on a golf scholarship right out of
BISMARKI graduated from and he and my sister then were
real good friends because they played golf together and he
was older than her a few years. But anyway, when
Paul went out, doctor Paul Cook was a family physician,

(20:49):
and he went to Santa Maria, California, and he met
Lawrence out at the Santa Monica Ballroom. When Lawrence Walk
first started with his music, you know the bubbles and
stuff that you see on TV. That started in Santa Monica,

(21:10):
and then it went to Escondido and then he started
a big golf course there because Paul showed him how
to play golf, and they were good friends and all
that time. It starts way back, way back. Riverwood was
just developing in sixty nine. That's when Riverwood started and

(21:33):
they had a contest that they wanted somebody to name it.
So there were lots of entries, and I asked Pa,
I said, what do you think Riverwood, Pa, do you
think that'd be a good name. You know, it's by
the river and in the woods. Always said try it,
you know. So I submitted that name, and I wanted

(21:56):
and we got a free membership for all five of
my kids. So I start hearted at him all playing
golf when they're this little. I taught him how to play,
and I entered him in tournaments right away and stuff.
You know. They were so excited. But that was the
same year then river was named and Tom o'larry. See
it was Bismarck Country Club before, and so they changed

(22:19):
it then to Tom o'lary because he retired. And when
was he retired in sixty eight, I think it was, Yeah,
he retired and then they had a tournament each year
then with his name on it. You know, yeah. Tell
he was well eighty eight. He was down at Riverwood.

(22:42):
He had his little big I have a few of
us old hickory clubs downstairs. I saved those and his
bag that he had to give golf lessons. He had
a bag of just golf balls, and nobody to pick
him up except me. I'd go out and pick him
up and get fifty sense maybe, you know. And I

(23:02):
still kept all that stuff. Yeah, Edwin Lips. He was
senator mayor of Bismarck for twelve years at thirty two.
Of course, you know, he was married to another lady

(23:23):
and they had three children. But I was in high
school when he was the coach at Saint Mary's and
then he ran for mayor and became mayor of Bismarck
for twelve years, and then was a senator for thirty
eight years. I came back from California. My husband had

(23:44):
died out there after twelve years of marriage. He died
of a heart attack. That was very sad. And Evan,
his wife had died two years earlier. I called him up.
I said, Evan, this is Maryland. We known each other
all our life, you know, and he was a good

(24:06):
friend of my family. He always liked my dad and everybody.
And I said, would you like to play golf? Oh,
I'd love to, he said. So that's how we started
playing golf at Riverwood. And then we go to the
elks and go dance and he loved to dance, and
I did two so and then go to dinner, you know,
and then we just started going together. For six years

(24:30):
we went together. Then we were married for four years
and he died in five January ninth, oh five. Yeah,
great guy. Well it's just developed. My gosh, well that

(24:52):
Garrison diversion, you know, everything. I remember deer coming down
in big pieces of ice down Memorial Highway, you know.
Before the Garrison Diversion, everything was flooded south of the tracks,
you know, and we knew a lot of people that
lived in shacks down there, a lot of Irish O'Connor

(25:16):
and there were let's see who else was down there,
mostly Irish people. I got a gold medal in Arizona
when I was seventy. I went on a ten k
and I beat all the I don't want to break though.

(25:38):
I beat these gals over fifty. It's right there. That
gold medal's right up there. It's a beautiful one with
the cactus that spins around. You know. It was the
Senior Olympics. It was called yeah, yeah, it's in Arizona.

(25:58):
Nobody would do anything, and I thought, I love sports.
I'm going to get out and do it, and the
track meets and stuff too. You know, my dad loved
all the bums in town. You know every bum you know,

(26:18):
this Eddie Meter, I don't know if you've heard of
him with the big overcoat net when it's a hundred
above out, he had a big overcoat on. Oh pah.
He was good friends with him. And we'd invite him
up to the house and you'd have he'd have senators
there too, and we'd have all these bums even come
in and he'd tell them ghost stories because they didn't

(26:42):
have a car to go back, and it was getting
dark out, and they'd walk out of the house just shaking.
Because Paul liked to tell stories. He loved to tell story.
That was his entertainment. No drinking in bars, nothing, telling stories.
He could always tell us story, but not crack a smile.

(27:02):
He had a deadpan expression, you know, like Jack Benny
type or Grauchl Martz or something you like them, yeah,
or Will Rogers kind of like you know that way.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Matt, thank you again for joining me today. Please tell
our audience where they can find the video versions of
each of the Prairie Pioneer programs.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, everyone can. The best place to go is going
to be Bismarkhistory dot org, the Bismark Historical Society's website.
There you'll have a link to the YouTube page, which
is Bismarck Historical Society, and there you can watch all
the past episodes of Prey Pioneers, as well as other
programs produced by the Bismarck Historical Society.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Thank you for listening to History Hot Dish if you
like what you heard. The Bismarck Historical Society hosts programs
and events throughout the year. We welcome all those with
an interest in local history to join us. For more
information about programs or membership, visit our website Bismarkhistory dot
org or find us on Facebook. You can find History
Hot Dish on one o two point five FM, Radioaccess

(28:21):
dot org and anywhere you find great podcasts. History Hot
Dish is produced by the Bismarck Historical Society in partnership
with Dakota Media Access