Many of his friends know him as Richard J. Walsh, but most people call him “Monsignor.” The Monsignor Richard J. Walsh lives in the home where he grew up at 1254 Lincoln Avenue.
The monsignor is a descendant of two prominent Tyrone families: Walsh and Lanners. These families became residents of Tyrone in the middle 1800s. Both homesteads were located on Lincoln Avenue — Walsh’s at 1213 and Lanners’ at 1266.
Msgr. Walsh’s grandfather, Patrick J. Walsh, came to America in 1853 at the age of seven with his family from the town of Newport, County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. Patrick’s mother, Margaret McCann Walsh, who had been widowed, came to the New World with her youngest child. This was during the “Potato Famine” in Ireland. She had a relative in the Tyrone area and had planned to live with them, but by the time she arrived the relative had died. Margaret stayed in Tyrone and reared her young son.
Patrick married a young girl from Newry, Pa. by the name of Augusta Storm. Patrick and Augusta lived on Lincoln Avenue and were blessed with nine children. The oldest child was James P. Walsh (who became the monsignor’s father), Joseph W., John A., Mary Agnes, Margaret W., Richard L., M. Eugene, Helen Marie, and Genevieve W.
Patrick worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Tyrone Division as the supervisor of Maintenance & Way. He also established the Walsh Lumber Company in Tyrone, producing ties and mine props for the railroad.
When James was grown he also went to work for the railroad, scything brush. James worked under his father’s supervision but did not like this kind of work; however, he wanted to stay in railroading. He became a passenger conductor for the PRR, riding the Lehigh Express from Altoona to Mt. Carmel.
James was a handsome young man and met a lot of young girls in the towns where the train stopped. While home one weekend from one of his runs he met Mary Lanners. Gene, his younger brother, was an altar boy at St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church, which Mary attended regularly. Gene asked Mary if he could walk her home one Sunday and she accepted. Since the couple had to pass the Walsh home on the way, Gene asked her in to meet his family. This was where Gene lost Mary to James.
Mary Lanners was the youngest child of William and Catherine Brickle Lanners. Mary’s father, William Sr., came to Tyrone from Luxembourg and was a stonemason. William manufactured building blocks and laid the stone foundations for many buildings in Tyrone. He also built many of the stone arches for railroad bridges in the area and helped with the foundation for St. Matthew’s Church. William Sr. built the home on 1266 Lincoln Avenue, using building blocks that he designed.
Mary’s mother Catherine came to America from Bavaria, Germany. She had been a peasant girl who worked very hard to save money for her new start in life. She arrived by boat in New York City and found a boarding house in which to stay until she could get a train to Hollidaysburg, Pa., where she had friends in the German colony. While staying in New York, the owner of the boarding house kept telling her each day that there were no trains to Pennsylvania, which meant she was spending her money on room and board. When Catherine had only enough money left for the train ticket, the owner informed her the train was finally leaving for Pennsylvania.
William Sr. had been doing quite well in Tyrone and was looking for a German girl to be his wife. He wrote to the colony in Hollidaysburg that he wanted to come and choose a wife. When he arrived at the colony, the available girls were lined up and William studied them all. He walked down the line, pointed to Catherine and said, “I’ll take that one.”
The three older sons worked for their father in the Lanners Construction Company. Theodore was the paymaster for the company and he would travel from site to site every week paying the workers in cash. Theodore was robbed and murdered in 1898 while he was on one of these trips.
The Lanners family built many coke ovens in western Pennsylvania. The ovens were built for a coal company owned by Mr. A.J. Frick that supplied coke to the Carnegie Steel Company.
The monsignor told me the story about his Uncle John coming home with one of his largest poker winnings. He thought Molly would not be so hard on him if he gave her the huge wad of bills. However, Molly could not be bought with what she considered “evil money.” She promptly took the winnings to the kitchen, went right to the coal stove, lifted the door and threw in the money.
Mary Lanners began dating James P. Walsh and the two fell head over heels in love for each other. James and Mary were married in St. Matthew’s Church in 1910. Mary and James waited seven years before being blessed with their son, Richard J. Walsh. Richard was born two months premature on January 1, 1917 in the Lanners’ homestead.
While growing up, the monsignor recalls getting almost anything he wanted from his Lanners aunts and uncles. He remembers standing in his back yard with his mother almost every day at 12:20 p.m. to wave at the Lehigh Express. James always would be waving back to his family.
Though his relatives spoiled him, Richard Walsh did lead a normal life, doing everything most children of the day did. He played with the neighborhood kids; the group the monsignor remembers is “the gang” who played baseball on Cameron Avenue. They also went to the Athletic Park to swim every day in the summer. A gentleman by the name of Alios Mashke was the lifeguard, who also coached at the YMCA. Mr. Mashke taught most of the people in the area how to swim.
In the winter the gang went sledding from the top of Jefferson Avenue down to 11th Street. The Jones boys, who lived on Cameron Avenue, had a large toboggan their father Frank had made. It was a fast ride down the hill, and if you were lucky you would get a turn.
The young Richard Walsh also kept busy with his two paper routes. The morning route was for the Altoona Tribune, which he delivered on foot in the neighborhood. The afternoon route was for the Altoona Mirror, which he delivered by bicycle all over town. On Sundays he not only delivered both Altoona papers, but also the Enquirer, the Recorder, the New York Times, and the Philadelphia and Harrisburg papers all by a wagon that he pulled behind him.
Richard started school at St. Matthew’s but only went until fourth grade. One day during class a rowdy boy confronted the teacher — a nun — and hit her. When Richard told his parents that evening what had happened, his father became very upset. James and Mary decided to pull their son out of the class and put him in public school. Richard went through eighth grade at Logan and then on to the high school.
Tyrone High School was just across the street from Richard’s home. He took the academic course and was very active in politics, always working for some cause. He was class president when he approached Principal Dr. Skelly with the idea of having the students be crossing guards at the busy street corners. They approved the proposal of student crossing guards, who would be volunteers wearing white sashes when they were on duty. At the end of that year the first Washington, D.C. bus trip from the school was made to repay the students for their many hours of service.
Richard graduated from Tyrone High School in 1935 and went on to Villanova College near Philadelphia. After leaving Villanova College, Richard went to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. He finished his schooling at the top of his class and was ordained in 1944. Richard, a child of the Altoona Diocese, was sent to his first church at St. Mary’s on 5th Avenue in Altoona by Bishop Guilfoyle. He was a priest there for six years.
Richard worked with many Altoona community organizations while at St. Mary’s. He became chairman of the Blair County Board of Public Assistance, and his work in the community made him well known throughout the County. The bishop sent him to the Rockview Correctional Institution, near State College, where he was the chaplain and also the Catholic chaplain at the local Penn State College. The assignment was a huge one. At Penn State Richard was in charge of 5,000 Catholic students’ spiritual and counseling needs.
The young priest held mass in a theater on Sunday mornings. He always had a group of young men come early to the theater to clean up from the performance held there the night before. Following the cleanup he would treat the group to breakfast at the Corner Room on College Avenue. Luther Harshbarger, the official religious representative for the College, took pity on the group. Luther arranged for them to move their Sunday service to the Schwab Auditorium. The students made the statement that they were going from Hollywood to Broadway!
At the prison Richard was in charge of any counseling needed, and if a prisoner wanted a clergyman of their faith, he would arrange to have one come in. He also held masses for all and honored last requests of death-row inmates, if possible. The mass services were held in the gymnasium of the prison. Because of this, Richard wrote a request for a chapel to be built. The request was always put at the bottom of the list at the State Capitol in Harrisburg. Then one day the new Governor, David Lawrence, came to visit the prison and Richard requested to speak with him. Governor Lawrence was a Catholic and when the request of a chapel came from a priest, he honored it. Governor Lawrence also made a vow to put a chapel in every prison in the state, and he did.
One duty of the clergyman at the prison was to counsel a prisoner, if they so requested, who was going to be put to death. The prisoner would be put in the death chamber on Saturday and was put to death at 12:01 a.m. Monday. After counseling and giving mass to the prisoner, the clergyman led the procession to the electric chair. The clergyman then stood on a rubber mat near the chair and watched the procedure. The monsignor told me he has watched fifteen prisoners die on the chair.
Richard was at Rockview from 1950 until 1978, when he retired with twenty-eight years of service. But he didn’t quit working; he has continued to serve the Tyrone area community, visiting shut-ins every day at the Tyrone hospital and weekly at the Epworth Manor nursing home.
The St. Matthew’s School that the monsignor left years ago is one place that he always will be remembered. On November 1 an “All Saints Day” service is held at the school to bless all the animals. Msgr. Walsh had the very first service for the children and their animals. The library at St. Matthew’s School was dedicated to him in 1994.
The monsignor always is willing to help anyone in need. He is one of the most giving individuals I know. The bishop conferred the title “Monsignor” on him because of his great work as a priest. This honor is given only to priests who have made great contributions to the Catholic Church and the community.
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