Mary Teresa generally went by the name Teresa.
She moved to New Hampton, Iowa when she was a small child and then to Keota,
Iowa when she was a teenager. She graduated from high school
there. The family moved to a farm northeast of Keswick, which is where she met
Forrest.
She graduated from high
school 5 years after the 8th grade, according to certificates in
possession of Dennis Nicklaus and Lyman and Merle Morrison. Here is
Merle's and Lyman's guess as to why:
Mary Teresa's mother (Farrell) was a daughter of
a charter member of the temperance society in Clinton County.
She (Teresa B. Farrell Shannon) didn't have any use for alcohol either.
Rumor had it that a couple of the boys developed a taste for
liquor while they lived in Parnell. Parnell was known as a sinful town
in Lyman's time. Merle thinks that his grandma Teresa gave John the word
to move. And Merle says he thinks he remembers mom mentioning one time
that she waited till they moved to Keota to start high school. Lyman didn't
think they had a Catholic high school in Parnell and Mary Teresa went to
parochial schools all the time. It must have been hard for
John Shannon to always have to move to a place with Catholic schools.
Teresa's sister-in-law Mary Ferne (Morrison) Franklin contributed
the following memories of Teresa in 1997:
My first memory of Teresa: She made me a new dress to wear to their
wedding. I was about 8 and I thought it was beautiful. She was
always very quiet. One thing I remember about her was that she made
the best oatmeal cookies I've ever eaten. Naturally they had lard in
them so I've given those up for good.
Newspaper ``Mystery Photo'', from a school play at St. Mary's Catholic School. Identified the next week as Back Row: L. Baker, N. Conrad, Father Decker. Next Row: R. Conrad, _____Flander, Teresa Shannon, Frona Peiffer, M. Crawford. Next Row: L. Riopden, Margaret Peiffer, _____Flander, F. Gretter, Marcella P., Pauline P. Front Row: M. Davies, L. Bohorfen
