James T. Carlin Sr. 100th Birthday

August 18, 2021

August 18, 1921. It was a hot and humid Thursday in the coal mining town of Girardville, PA, 100 years ago on this date, when this guy, James T. Carlin Sr., was born to Timothy and Ellen Carlin, the 7th child out of eight siblings, and the only male. A couple of years later the family moved to West Philadelphia, and this is where he was raised. Short of a stint overseas in the military, he never again lived more than 25 miles away from the city.

After graduating from West Catholic High in 1939 the red-headed rascal went to Drexel College for a bit before joining the US Army when WWII broke out. When he got back from Europe he married my mother, Peg Cooney, in June of 1946. He spent his adulthood as a sales rep for a chemical company while raising four boys and a girl in the Philly suburb of Wayne, PA.

After the four boys grew up and moved out of the house, he, Mom and my sister, Donna Carlin Bullock, relocated to the nearby town of Paoli, where he lived until his untimely passing in 1988 at the all-too-young age of 66, four days shy of his 67th birthday.

With seven sisters, the Carlin family name almost died out. But since he and my mother had four boys, there are eight grandchildren that started out with the last name of Carlin. And now there are 11 great-grandchildren, including a James IV. The ginger-haired gene has also been passed down through the generations.

As of today I am now six months and four days older than he was when he passed. He’s been gone now for 33 years and four days. I can only hope that I will be around for another 33 years, which would put me at 100 in the year 2054.

While he may not have approved of my lifestyle choices (playing music, driving, moving to CA, etc.), I think he would have been happy with the way things turned out for me. He had no idea that my picking him up during my teens from the train station in the afternoons would be great experience for my job of 27 years! He certainly would have loved Claudia, who he sadly never got to meet.

He was a wonderful and caring parent, and well loved by all. Even though he has been gone a long time, he has never been forgotten, and he will always be in our hearts.

Happy 100th, Dad!