This marriage was the spark that ignited a serious fire that essentially destroyed the relationship between my mother, Clare (Scogin) Farrell and her sister Marian (Scogin) Johnson. No one alive knows what background was there before, but after the wedding occured, the two sisters, who were close as kids and lived less than 6 miles apart in suburban Virginia, never spoke.

The wedding was held at the Ft Myer Chapel, on the grounds of Ft Myer Army Base in Arlington Virginia. It was a non-demoninational facility, not a Catholic church. This was more than a decade before the Second Vatican Coucil. My mother asked the pastor at her parish (Fr Heller of St James in Falls Church) if it was acceptable to attend a Protestant wedding. He told her it would be a mortal sin. So she did not go. Marian was furious and insulted.

The feud was so strong that my mom went through the family photo album, and threw out all the photos of Marian. When there were photos with the two of them, my mom cut the photo, removing Marian’s half of the picture.

Marian did come to my mom’s funeral, and came to the house for the post funeral wake. I believe it was the first time that she had been to the house.

— Pat Farrell, 14 Jan 2016