Loretta "Etta" Conlan Foley
Birth: 8 Oct 1909, San Francisco, California
Death: 10 Apr 1973, San Mateo, California
Spouse: Howard James Foley
Birth: 12 Jan 1909, San Francisco, CA,
Marriage: 5 May 1934, Redwood City
Death: 3 Dec 1967, Burlingame, California
Children: Ronald Alan (1938-2000)
Richard Paul (1948-)
Donald (1954-)
Loretta Genevieve Conlan, known as Etta to everyone, was the youngest of the eight Conlan children. She was born on October 8, 1909 in San Francisco. She was born and raised on Boyd Street in St. Joseph’s Parish, south of Market. In 1919, the family moved to the Valencia Corridor, first on San Jose Avenue Street and around the corner onto Duncan five years later. According to the 1940 Census, she had two years of high school education. Given where she lived, it is most likely that she attended Everett Middle School and Mission High School. She would have left school in 1925 at the age of 16.
By 1929, Loretta was working as a clerk in a hospital. But that is an understatement of fact. Loretta was a comptometer operator. A comptometer was an early adding machine, a precursor to the computer. And she did not just work at any hospital. She worked for the George Williams Hooper Research Foundation at the University of California, San Francisco. The Hooper Foundation was the first medical research foundation in the United States incorporated into a university. Mrs. Sophronia Hooper had established the foundation in memory of her husband, George Williams Hooper, a San Francisco lumber merchant and philanthropist. The foundation opened in 1914 and, by 1919, it had become responsible for the investigation that led to the control of botulism in the commercial canning industry. The Hooper Foundation was instrumental in planning and developing the cannery inspection service and gave advice to the canneries that all but eliminated botulism in canned goods by 1945, having a major impact on the war effort. Loretta’s work was instrumental in their research.
In 1934, Loretta married her childhood sweetheart, Howard James Foley. Howard was born on January 12, 1909, the only child of George W Foley and Alice Small. George was a house painter from Benecia and Alice was a homemaker from Birmingham, England. They lived on Duncan Street and on San Jose Avenue at the same time as the Conlans. Howard graduated from Mission High School in December of 1927 and went to work for the Southern Pacific as a messenger. He moved up through the organization as a clerk and then, by 1934, he was a stenographer. He had beautiful, Palmer Method handwriting and a unique signature. He told his sons that how a man wrote his name said a lot about him. He also became an expert typist and took short hand. By 1934, he had an income that made marriage possible. On May 5, 1934, Etta and Howard were married at Mount Carmel Church in Redwood City. The ceremony was officiated by her cousin by marriage, Fr. William Moran.
The 1930s were a good time for the Foleys, despite the Depression. Howard continued to rise in the company and Etta continued to contribute to life-saving research. They moved around the Inner Sunset, living on Parnassus, Hugo, and Kirkham Streets. On September 14, 1938, they welcomed their first son Ronald Alan.
In 1940, life took a dark turn. Etta, like her sister Lucille before her, came down with tuberculosis. She was admitted to San Francisco City and County Hospital where she would spend at least the next year there. Evelyn Petersen Hunt, the wife of Etta’s nephew Bob, remembered visiting her in Araquipa Sanatorium in Marin. Howard and Ron moved in with his parents and Howard’s mother Alice took care of Ron while Howard continued to work at the SP. It must have been an excruciating time for Howard with a son to raise while his wife was suffering from a disease that had historically been a death sentence and had killed one family member already)—not to mention that the whole world was at war. Etta went through various treatments over the next five years, including having a lung removed. Unlike Lucille, the treatments worked and she recovered. She recuperated at the Hassler Health Farm in San Mateo.
Death: 10 Apr 1973, San Mateo, California
Spouse: Howard James Foley
Birth: 12 Jan 1909, San Francisco, CA,
Marriage: 5 May 1934, Redwood City
Death: 3 Dec 1967, Burlingame, California
Children: Ronald Alan (1938-2000)
Richard Paul (1948-)
Donald (1954-)
Loretta Genevieve Conlan, known as Etta to everyone, was the youngest of the eight Conlan children. She was born on October 8, 1909 in San Francisco. She was born and raised on Boyd Street in St. Joseph’s Parish, south of Market. In 1919, the family moved to the Valencia Corridor, first on San Jose Avenue Street and around the corner onto Duncan five years later. According to the 1940 Census, she had two years of high school education. Given where she lived, it is most likely that she attended Everett Middle School and Mission High School. She would have left school in 1925 at the age of 16.
By 1929, Loretta was working as a clerk in a hospital. But that is an understatement of fact. Loretta was a comptometer operator. A comptometer was an early adding machine, a precursor to the computer. And she did not just work at any hospital. She worked for the George Williams Hooper Research Foundation at the University of California, San Francisco. The Hooper Foundation was the first medical research foundation in the United States incorporated into a university. Mrs. Sophronia Hooper had established the foundation in memory of her husband, George Williams Hooper, a San Francisco lumber merchant and philanthropist. The foundation opened in 1914 and, by 1919, it had become responsible for the investigation that led to the control of botulism in the commercial canning industry. The Hooper Foundation was instrumental in planning and developing the cannery inspection service and gave advice to the canneries that all but eliminated botulism in canned goods by 1945, having a major impact on the war effort. Loretta’s work was instrumental in their research.
In 1934, Loretta married her childhood sweetheart, Howard James Foley. Howard was born on January 12, 1909, the only child of George W Foley and Alice Small. George was a house painter from Benecia and Alice was a homemaker from Birmingham, England. They lived on Duncan Street and on San Jose Avenue at the same time as the Conlans. Howard graduated from Mission High School in December of 1927 and went to work for the Southern Pacific as a messenger. He moved up through the organization as a clerk and then, by 1934, he was a stenographer. He had beautiful, Palmer Method handwriting and a unique signature. He told his sons that how a man wrote his name said a lot about him. He also became an expert typist and took short hand. By 1934, he had an income that made marriage possible. On May 5, 1934, Etta and Howard were married at Mount Carmel Church in Redwood City. The ceremony was officiated by her cousin by marriage, Fr. William Moran.
The 1930s were a good time for the Foleys, despite the Depression. Howard continued to rise in the company and Etta continued to contribute to life-saving research. They moved around the Inner Sunset, living on Parnassus, Hugo, and Kirkham Streets. On September 14, 1938, they welcomed their first son Ronald Alan.
In 1940, life took a dark turn. Etta, like her sister Lucille before her, came down with tuberculosis. She was admitted to San Francisco City and County Hospital where she would spend at least the next year there. Evelyn Petersen Hunt, the wife of Etta’s nephew Bob, remembered visiting her in Araquipa Sanatorium in Marin. Howard and Ron moved in with his parents and Howard’s mother Alice took care of Ron while Howard continued to work at the SP. It must have been an excruciating time for Howard with a son to raise while his wife was suffering from a disease that had historically been a death sentence and had killed one family member already)—not to mention that the whole world was at war. Etta went through various treatments over the next five years, including having a lung removed. Unlike Lucille, the treatments worked and she recovered. She recuperated at the Hassler Health Farm in San Mateo.
Over the next decade, life and death seemed to come in pairs. In 1945, Etta recovered from tuberculosis and returned to her family, but Howard’s father George died. In 1947, Howard’s mother, who had stepped into the breech to help raise Ron while Etta was ill, died, but Etta and Howard soon found themselves pregnant. They welcomed their second son, Richard Paul, on September 14, 1948. In 1954, Etta was pregnant again when her mother Annie passed away in August. A month later, on September 14, Etta and Howard welcomed their third son, Donald James.
As unusual as their wartime experience was due to Etta’s health, the Foleys’ post-war experience was the American experience. In 1949, they bought a two-bedroom, one-bath house at 704 Lexington in Burlingame where they would spend the rest of their lives. (After Ron entered the Navy, they added another room and bathroom to the back.) The house was at the beginning of a cul-de-sac in the development of Burlingables and the block ended at Burlingame High School. It was an area full of young couples with new families. They knew everyone in every house on the block. There were cocktail parties and July 4th block parties, and the boys had many neighborhood friends with whom to play. It was security after a time of uncertainty.
As unusual as their wartime experience was due to Etta’s health, the Foleys’ post-war experience was the American experience. In 1949, they bought a two-bedroom, one-bath house at 704 Lexington in Burlingame where they would spend the rest of their lives. (After Ron entered the Navy, they added another room and bathroom to the back.) The house was at the beginning of a cul-de-sac in the development of Burlingables and the block ended at Burlingame High School. It was an area full of young couples with new families. They knew everyone in every house on the block. There were cocktail parties and July 4th block parties, and the boys had many neighborhood friends with whom to play. It was security after a time of uncertainty.
Rich remembered that, because of his dad’s long experience with the SP, their lives were very organized and consistent. Every day Howard took the train to 1 Market Street in San Francisco where he worked. He had risen to the position of Executive Assistant to Bill Lamprecht, the Vice President for Operations of the Southern Pacific. At 5:40, he would come walking up the street from the railroad station, his parents would have their one cocktail before dinner, the family had dinner together, and then watch television. Dinner was a slow, quiet affair, with little conversation. The boys always had to ask to be excused because Howard was a slow eater and took his time. (When he traveled for work, he could never finish dinner because dinner was over when the boss was finished.) After the kitchen was cleaned, it was time for TV. The Wide World of Sports, Gunsmoke, I Love Lucy, and The General Electric College Bowl were on the venue. The College Bowl built their curiosity and made college a goal for the boys. On Sunday nights it was the Wonderful World of Disney and the Ed Sullivan Show, followed by bedtime.
Sundays were almost ritualistic and were Etta’s free time. The morning began with 9 am mass at St. Catherine’s (“third pew on the right”), followed by getting the newspaper on the way home. Howard would cook breakfast, the boys would set the table (often outside when the weather was good), and then they would eat together. Afterward, it was time to clean and dust the house and do the gardening before the boys were able to go out to play. In particular, Rich remembered having to get all the dust out of the crevasses among the carved grapevines on the dining room furniture.
Christmas was about the kids. Everyone had their own job decorating the tree. Etta would pick the tree and determine the placement. Howard strung the lights. The boys hung the ornaments—with Etta’s direction as to placement—and each had a special ornament that was hung last. Presents were for Christmas morning, but only after mass and breakfast. Rich remembered the year he got his first bike. He still sort of believed in Santa Claus. His father, who was not particularly handy, assembled the bike at a neighbors’ house, hid it in the neighbor’s garage, and snuck it in during the night. Rich woke up and peeked, but he went right back to bed and acted surprised in the morning. He had learned to keep the magic alive for the others.
Howard loved to garden. The yard was bisected by a low wall, which separated the patio and lawn from the garden. The lawn area had a swing set that the boys enjoyed, but the garden had roses, which Howard tended lovingly. There was a vegetable garden with tomatoes and also a plum tree, which meant the boys had annual harvesting work to do. They could never eat all the plums, but another family on the black had a lemon tree and they would exchange the excess fruit.
Etta was the calm force in the house. She was firm but gentle and was always there for the children. There were always snacks on the table and folded laundry in the drawers. She always helped with homework after school. She was deeply spiritual, as one would expect after her brush with death. Rich saw her as prayerful, but not overtly so. Though she read her missal and went to mass every Sunday, she seems to have preferred acts to prayers. She was the only one of her siblings that drove and she would often pick up the nuns after school at St. Catherine’s and take them home to the Mercy Center where they lived.
Etta was quiet and somewhat introverted. She had good friends, though not a lot of them. She and Howard went to cocktail parties, though they did not throw many. Neither drank much except for their one daily cocktail.
Howard was the strong, quiet type, like the cowboys he loved in the movies. He did not speak up often, but when he did, he spoke with wisdom and people listened. Rich remembered that when he (Rich) was in 8th grade, he had wanted to go to Serra High School and then into the priesthood. His dad said no. Burlingame High was right at the end of the block and many of his friends were going there. It was the right call—Rich discovered girls and the priesthood was not longer his future. Rich, who is left-handed, remembered the nuns had tried to force him to switch hands. Howard came to school and let them know “what for” and it stopped. Howard taught his sons simple rules to live by: Always tell the truth, always keep your word, and be where you said you would be when you said you would be there.
Other than the occasional trip to the Russian River, the family did not often travel on vacations. As products of the Depression, Howard and Etta considered it a luxury. Despite traveling for work, Howard only left the country once. In 1924, his mother took him home to Birmingham, England, on the ship the Lapland to meet his grandparents. There were two big trips Rich remembered. One year they went to Oregon and stayed in a cabin in the woods with a stream nearby. Rich thought it was heaven. The other trip was to Disneyland. The family took the train down (employees could ride for free) and stayed at the Lamplighter Inn.
Etta loved to cook and the highlights of the year were the family dinners at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Lil and Walter always came down, driven by their friends, the Dykeses. Sometimes Peg would sometimes join them. Again, the dinners were almost ritualistic. At 5:30, the car would arrive in the driveway and everyone would pile out. Cocktails were served in the living room and there was lively conversation. Rich remembered that it was the only time when large quantities of wine and liquor were in the house. Hey would then proceed into the dining room for salad, main course, dessert and more lively conversation. Lil and Walter would tell stories and Dorothy Dykes, who had a wonderful sense of humor, would keep everyone laughing. After dinner, the women would move into the kitchen to clean up and the men would return to the living room to watch television. Invariably, the men would fall asleep and begin to snore. Etta would walk in, look at them, and just smile and shake her head. Whenever Rich sees William Bendix in The Babe Ruth Story, he is transported right back to that moment. Whenever the women were ready to go, they would wake the men up and drive home.
Sundays were almost ritualistic and were Etta’s free time. The morning began with 9 am mass at St. Catherine’s (“third pew on the right”), followed by getting the newspaper on the way home. Howard would cook breakfast, the boys would set the table (often outside when the weather was good), and then they would eat together. Afterward, it was time to clean and dust the house and do the gardening before the boys were able to go out to play. In particular, Rich remembered having to get all the dust out of the crevasses among the carved grapevines on the dining room furniture.
Christmas was about the kids. Everyone had their own job decorating the tree. Etta would pick the tree and determine the placement. Howard strung the lights. The boys hung the ornaments—with Etta’s direction as to placement—and each had a special ornament that was hung last. Presents were for Christmas morning, but only after mass and breakfast. Rich remembered the year he got his first bike. He still sort of believed in Santa Claus. His father, who was not particularly handy, assembled the bike at a neighbors’ house, hid it in the neighbor’s garage, and snuck it in during the night. Rich woke up and peeked, but he went right back to bed and acted surprised in the morning. He had learned to keep the magic alive for the others.
Howard loved to garden. The yard was bisected by a low wall, which separated the patio and lawn from the garden. The lawn area had a swing set that the boys enjoyed, but the garden had roses, which Howard tended lovingly. There was a vegetable garden with tomatoes and also a plum tree, which meant the boys had annual harvesting work to do. They could never eat all the plums, but another family on the black had a lemon tree and they would exchange the excess fruit.
Etta was the calm force in the house. She was firm but gentle and was always there for the children. There were always snacks on the table and folded laundry in the drawers. She always helped with homework after school. She was deeply spiritual, as one would expect after her brush with death. Rich saw her as prayerful, but not overtly so. Though she read her missal and went to mass every Sunday, she seems to have preferred acts to prayers. She was the only one of her siblings that drove and she would often pick up the nuns after school at St. Catherine’s and take them home to the Mercy Center where they lived.
Etta was quiet and somewhat introverted. She had good friends, though not a lot of them. She and Howard went to cocktail parties, though they did not throw many. Neither drank much except for their one daily cocktail.
Howard was the strong, quiet type, like the cowboys he loved in the movies. He did not speak up often, but when he did, he spoke with wisdom and people listened. Rich remembered that when he (Rich) was in 8th grade, he had wanted to go to Serra High School and then into the priesthood. His dad said no. Burlingame High was right at the end of the block and many of his friends were going there. It was the right call—Rich discovered girls and the priesthood was not longer his future. Rich, who is left-handed, remembered the nuns had tried to force him to switch hands. Howard came to school and let them know “what for” and it stopped. Howard taught his sons simple rules to live by: Always tell the truth, always keep your word, and be where you said you would be when you said you would be there.
Other than the occasional trip to the Russian River, the family did not often travel on vacations. As products of the Depression, Howard and Etta considered it a luxury. Despite traveling for work, Howard only left the country once. In 1924, his mother took him home to Birmingham, England, on the ship the Lapland to meet his grandparents. There were two big trips Rich remembered. One year they went to Oregon and stayed in a cabin in the woods with a stream nearby. Rich thought it was heaven. The other trip was to Disneyland. The family took the train down (employees could ride for free) and stayed at the Lamplighter Inn.
Etta loved to cook and the highlights of the year were the family dinners at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Lil and Walter always came down, driven by their friends, the Dykeses. Sometimes Peg would sometimes join them. Again, the dinners were almost ritualistic. At 5:30, the car would arrive in the driveway and everyone would pile out. Cocktails were served in the living room and there was lively conversation. Rich remembered that it was the only time when large quantities of wine and liquor were in the house. Hey would then proceed into the dining room for salad, main course, dessert and more lively conversation. Lil and Walter would tell stories and Dorothy Dykes, who had a wonderful sense of humor, would keep everyone laughing. After dinner, the women would move into the kitchen to clean up and the men would return to the living room to watch television. Invariably, the men would fall asleep and begin to snore. Etta would walk in, look at them, and just smile and shake her head. Whenever Rich sees William Bendix in The Babe Ruth Story, he is transported right back to that moment. Whenever the women were ready to go, they would wake the men up and drive home.
Howard was a hard worker and hoped to reach a stage when he could retire and spend more time with his wife. Before that could happen, though, Howard had a series of heart attacks. His son Don described him as a “worry wart.” He was always conscious of being on time (which meant 20 to 30 minutes early) and getting the job done correctly. On December 3, 1967, his son Rich was awakened in the middle of the night by noises from the other room. His mother was on the phone frantically calling 911. Rich went into his father’s room to find Howard in bed and not breathing. No one knew how to do CPR and the ambulance seemed to take forever to get there. Howard was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He was only 58. There was a Monday night rosary and Tuesday morning requiem mass at St. Catherine’s, which was packed. The whole school went to the mass and there were many friends and coworkers. Howard was buried afterwards with his parents in Section G at Holy Cross.
Etta, buoyed by her faith, carried on for five more years. Howard had been her best friend before they became a married couple, and they remained best friends throughout their lives. In 1973, she became ill again this respiratory distress. The loss of Howard and the long-term effects of her experience with TB had drained her. She struggled to stay alive until June for Richard’s wedding, but she did not make it. The doctor said she was just too tired of the fight. She died on April 10, 1973. She was 64. Again, the mortuary—Crosby and Gray—and St. Catherine’s Church were packed. She was buried with Howard and his parents on Thursday the 12th.
Etta, buoyed by her faith, carried on for five more years. Howard had been her best friend before they became a married couple, and they remained best friends throughout their lives. In 1973, she became ill again this respiratory distress. The loss of Howard and the long-term effects of her experience with TB had drained her. She struggled to stay alive until June for Richard’s wedding, but she did not make it. The doctor said she was just too tired of the fight. She died on April 10, 1973. She was 64. Again, the mortuary—Crosby and Gray—and St. Catherine’s Church were packed. She was buried with Howard and his parents on Thursday the 12th.
Loretta and Howard were best friends as well as husband and wife. Their 33 years of marriage and probably a dozen years as friend before that were marked with gentle humor and true affection. There were subtle interchanges that went over their sons’ heads until later in life. Rich remembered one Christmas when Howard gave Etta a check for a million dollars. Then they both laughed. Little in-jokes like that characterized their loving relationship. Now they are together in eternity.