Jerry Flynn Character Analysis

The Death of Jerry Flynn (1947)

On his birthday in January of 1947, Jerry Flynn turns 71-years-old. Jerry continues to live at Koch Hospital near Jefferson Barracks. He has lived in the men’s dormitory at this hospital for almost 16 years. Originally working at Koch Hospital as a porter who did janitorial work, his job is a little less physically demanding in 1947 as he now works as a night watchman. Without social security, a pension plan, or any savings to speak of, he is unable to retire. (F74) (F139)

Family lore has handed down a story of Jerry Flynn on a St. Louis Avenue streetcar going to the Deppe house with two of his sons-in-law, Orval and Frank Deppe. After a night of drinking at an unknown location, Jerry gets off the streetcar

He especially likes to go with his father-in-law to have a beer or two at nearby Ohl’s Tavern. According to Orval, Jerry would become the center of attention as he would begin to tell both funny and outlandish stories in his heavy Irish brogue. The tavern regulars enjoyed his stories so much that whenever Orval went into Ohl’s for a beer, he was often hit with the same question repeatedly, “When is the Irishman coming back?” (F29)

Sometime in either late 1944 or early 1945, Orval Koehler takes Jerry Flynn to a movie that he knows his father-in-law will love. “Going My Way” is a film in which Bing Crosby wears a Roman collar and a St. Louis Browns ' cap for his role as the Irish-American priest Father O 'Malley. Orval knows that Jerry will especially enjoy the elderly priest named Barry Fitzgerald who speaks in an Irish brogue. This act of wanting to share this experience with his father-in-law demonstrates the genuine affection Orval has for him. Almost 40 years later, when Orval lay dying in the hospital, he will suddenly look up at his son, Jerry, and say, “I wish that you could have gotten to know your Grandpa Flynn. You would have really liked him.” (F29)

He is taken, most assuredly by ambulance, to St. Louis City Hospital at 1515 Lafayette Avenue. Dr. Henry Schwartz is called in to treat him over the next two days. In a state of shock, Jerry never regains consciousness as a Catholic priest from Holy Name Parish comes to the hospital to give him the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. On Sunday, May 4, 1947, he is pronounced dead. According to Dr. Schwartz, Jerry’s death is caused by an acute intestinal obstruction. The part of Jerry’s intestine above the obstruction had continued to function, but as it filled with food, fluid, digestive secretions, and gas, it swelled like a soft hose. Because there is no autopsy, Dr. Schwartz is unable to state with certainty what caused this obstruction. However, he believes that the obstruction resulted from postoperative adhesions in which a fibrous band of connective tissue got trapped in Jerry’s intestine. Part of his intestine bulged through an abnormal opening (a hernia), due to a weakness in the muscles of his abdomen. Strangulation occurred from the trapping or twisting of a loop of part of his intestine in this abnormal opening. This obstruction cut off the blood supply to his intestine, a condition Dr. Schwartz called a strangulated hernia. (F29) (F74)

Mary, along with her sisters, and their families is left grieving. The wake is held at the W. A. Stock Mortuary at 2117 East