Brittany Killion
There was formidable competition—this might have been the first year a globe-trotting chemical engineer was in the running—but Brittany Killion emerged Saturday night as Philadelphia’s new Rose of Tralee. A caseworker for Rep. Patrick Meehan, Killion made quite an impression on the audience—and with the judges, obviously—with her enthusiastic answers to emcee Jim Donovan’s many questions.
The festivities took place at the Radnor Hotel.
An effervescent personality probably doesn’t hurt in Killion line of work. And as with all of the Rose candidates, from one year to the next, her life is already filled with accomplishment. Among other things, Killion is a member of the Fair Housing Task Force of Delaware County, a volunteer member of the Youth Aid Panel in Marple Township, and a member of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 4 in Delaware County.
Honors went to one other very accomplished woman—Denise Foley, co-editor of irishphiladelphia.com and an award-winning writer, editor and author. Foley accepted the Mary O’Connor Spirit Award, named after the original “Rose” of the famous song, annually awarded to an Irish-American woman who embodies O’Connor’s strength, humility, courage, and dedicated service to the community.
Looking out on all of the highly accomplished women in the room, and recalling so many of the smart, strong, courageous Irish women in the Philadelphia area whom she has met and befriended over the years, Foley made one key point: If ever you want to get something done, you know who to ask.
Ask a woman.
