With tears in her eyes, the 2011 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee, Beth Keeley, poses for photographers.
A 25-year-old writer from Philadelphia, Beth Keeley, was crowned the 2011 Rose of Tralee at a gala event Saturday night at the Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Delaware County.
Keeley, a graduate of Temple University who spent a semester abroad in Dublin, is web content coordinator/project manager at eCity Interactive, an online marketing and web design company in Philadelphia. While at Temple, Keeley lived in a community service themed dormitory and she and her house mates worked in homeless shelters, food kitchen, cleaning community parks and raising money for cancer research. She and her father host a radio show on Saturday mornings. Her Irish roots are in Donegal and Mayo.
She will travel to Portlaoise on June 3-6 for the Rose of Tralee Regional Final.
Three familiar faces to Irish immigrants—Pat Bonner, Frances Duffy, and Serena White—received the Mary O’Connor Spirit Award for their tireless work with the newly arrived at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby and with organizations such as Irish Northern Aid and Clan Na Gael.
CBS3 consumer reporter Jim Donovan was the host—and a very funny host, at that—and music was provided by Mary Beth Ryan and Friends. It was a special evening for Mary Beth Ryan—her mother is Mary O’Connor awardee and her 12-year-old daughter, Tara, was a Rose Petal, one of two programs for younger women and girls to become involved in the Rose of Tralee Program, which has a focus on community service and charity. The Philadelphia Rose participates in the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, does an annual food fundraiser around the Christmas holidays for a local food pantry and last year for the first time participated in Philly Clean-Up Day.
Along with 2010 Rose of Tralee Mairead Conley, there were five former Roses at the event, including Christine Frawley, the 2006 Rose, who was a judge.
It was a real family night, as you’ll see from our photos. And there wasn’t a soul there who wasn’t having a great time.
