The Wedding Story

Jim and Jean met at a Eucharistic Congress in 1941. They hit it off right away because neither one was into the silliness that often accompanied meetings of teenagers.  

That first meeting was on the banks of the Mississippi.  Four years later, on 27 Oct 1945, they were engaged again on the banks of the Mississippi.  The engagement was announced on November 8.  At the time the Maddens had moved from Duluth to St. Paul and were living on Cretin Street. There were a number of luncheons and a shower was hosted by Jim's Aunt Helen.

 
  










The Bridal Dinner was held at the Minneapolis Auto Club.  

The reception after the wedding which was officiated by Rev. Joseph A Corrigan at St. Mark's Church was held at the Dehn's house.

Jim and Jean honeymooned  at Trout Lake, MI. The owner of the lodge was Phil DeGraph. None of the guests at the lodge knew, or at least they never let on if they guessed, that Mom and Dad were on their honeymoon. While there the guests made a model of the lodge for Phil, whom both Dad and Mom remember fondly.

After the wedding they returned to Notre Dame, where Jim was pursuing his Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering.  

The Wedding & Honeymoon Photos

James H. Madden - Fair Oaks

Picture with Gemini Astronauts

There are no books for the rest of my Dad's story, but life certainly didn't stop in 1958 when the family left China Lake and traveled north to Rancho Cordova, just out side Sacramento.  There he took a job with Aerojet General Corp as a reliability engineer.  Over the next twelve years he worked on various propulsion projects for missiles and rockets including the Gemini program.
Aerojet - Rocketdyne Company History
Aerojet - Wikipedi

After a few months in Rancho Cordova the family moved to Fair Oaks, settling on four acres including an almond orchard and a one acre iris garden.  Now, if you didn't grow up on a farm you probably don't know how much work it can be for everyone in the family.  The iris need to be weeded, separated dug for customers and trimmed down before winter.  Almonds need to be knocked, picked up, hulled and sometimes shelled.  A lot of work, but a wonderful place to grow up.

With long hours at work, and some chores only he could do there was no more time for vacations in the Madden household for quite some time.  After some time the Iris were sold off and a neighbor grew vegetables on part of the land. The family quit hulling nuts and workers were hired for the majority of the knocking.  Dad did find time for his great love, autos.  He took up auto-crossing, and many a weekend was spent at a fairground, race track, parking lot and on at least one occasion a hospital, as he pursued the hobby.  When he wasn't racing he was often fixing the cars.  I remember many a broken U-joint along with other lesser problems.  Most of the family ran the other way as he worked on the cars as he wasn't the most patient mechanic.  But I often stuck around and as a result learned a bit about servicing cars and a bit more about the words one probably should say.

Mirella from Rio de Janiero

Life was never dull in the Madden household, there was always something going on. The family took in an exchange student from France and then one from Brazil and then an unwed mother who needed a place to stay. Dad an Mom were active in the Christian Family Organization at St. Mel's Church (or sometimes in spite of the church as the pastor was not fond of the group...or for that matter any of his associates).  They would go off on retreat weekends leaving various daughters in charge.  The whole family seemed to pick up guitars and you'd often hear strumming from one end the house or another sometimes accompanied by Dad's great voice, or whistle.

1961

1968

The family grew up...and....life changed again.  Two of us married in winter 70-71 and Aeroject moved their propulsion program to Florida.  Dad transferred to the Surface Effect Ship program and in June 1971 the family was off to Washington State leaving two daughters in California and one half way between on Oregon.

 Jim and Colleen - Jan 1971

James H. Madden - Notre Dame

Some thirty years ago, Dad contacted Notre Dame asking for verification of the fact that he had been an instructor there.  They responded that they had no official documentation of the fact.  I was therefore very pleased when I found a notice in the school newspaper announcing his appointment as a part-time instructor.  How could a University lose the documentation.  Did they ask the archives?  There must be class lists that show the instructors.  

I'm guessing Dad was not a really "popular" instructor.  He firmly believed that if you wanted an "A" you needed to earn it.  None of this grading on the curve where 50% right might earn an "A."  He felt that the students coming on after the war veterans didn't know how to work.  

I remember hearing this many many times as I grew up. It definitely served as an impetus to achieve that "A", without either Dad or Mom stressing that we needed to.  Imagine my surprise when I found my Dad's report cards one day and found more C's than A's.  

Struggling to feed his growing family, Dad not only earned his Master's in Aeronautical Engineering and taught part-time, he also drove a taxi and occasionally played a game of golf with a bit of a bet!  The family struggled a bit but thrived.

Here is the 3rd installment of Dad's Story - The Notre Dame Years.  This volume is heavily annotated by my Mom, Jean Ann English, as it is also her story.  Here my sisters Maura and Colleen first appear in the family story and I am there "almost", arriving less than a month into the next adventure.

The Notre Dame Years

Notre Dame Archives- Vetville 
University of Notre Dame Archives on Facebook
Hesburg: A Biography

White Sands - 1950 Missile Launch
White Sands - Missile Range History
US Navy at White Sands

Bendix Corporation - Wikipedia
Center for History - Bendix