Gareth Haughey. He once was lost, but then was found.
However many years ago we started irishphiladelphia.com—and I’m thinking eight years, come this February—a reporter who interviewed Denise and me asked a dumb question: What are you going to write about after shamrocks and beer?
Idiot.
For one thing, we have a “no shamrock” rule. Shamrocks are cliche. We avoid cliches. As for beer, we’re all in favor of it. Beer has its merits. But Irish drunkenness is also a cliche—most of the time, anyway—so, once again, we choose not to dwell on it.
The point is, there’s always something new and different to write about. You people are just plain interesting.
Want proof? Check out our top 10 stories of 2013. They’re the stories make us proud—not just of our work, but mostly to know all of you.
They’re not in any particular order of importance that really would have been too hard.
1.
A Tribute to a Man Who Made Everyone Feel Important
Denise Foley
Charlie Dunlop, a native of County Tyrone who lived in Havertown, died of a sudden heart attack on November 28, 2011, at the age of 45, leaving behind a wife and small son. He was everybody’s friend, a man whose kindness to others—even people who knew him only casually—simply knew no bounds. Last March, 500 of those friends and acquaintances paid $100 apiece to attend a banquet, the proceeds of which went to continue Charlie’s good works.
2.
Denise Foley
Seven-year-old Jane Richard, a budding Irish dancer, lost her leg in the Boston Marathon bombing. Jane’s brother, Martin, 8, was one of three people killed in the blast which also injured her mother, Denise. Philadelphia’s Irish dance community, the St. Patrick’s Day parade director Michael Bradley, IBEW Business Manager John Dougherty and many others organized a campaign to help defray the Richard families considerable medical costs.
3.
Jeff Meade
Irish Center regular Tom Staunton had his day in the sun on a Saturday in September, when the center’s picturesque Fireside Room was transformed into a set for a commercial for Penn Medicine. Staunton, who’d been under treatment for the heart flutter known as atrial fibrillation, underwent a pioneering procedure at Penn designed to rope of the section of the heart responsible for the notoriously difficult-to-treat flutter. The commercial went live in October.
4.
Denise Foley
This one is a two-fer.
Last September 12, someone broke into Tyrone-born musician Raymond Coleman’s van in the Port Richmond section, and made off with all of his equipment—his guitars, his sound system, even guitar cables. It didn’ t take long before Frank Daly, front man for Jamison Celtic Rock and co-founder of American Paddy LLC, had launched a crowd-sourcing campaign to help Coleman replace all of the lost equipment. It didn’t take too long before enough cash had been replaced to help him out of a bad spot—and even get him a better sound system than the one he had before the break-in. In November, Coleman held a big thank-you concert at the Plough and Stars.
5.
Jeff Meade
Another two-fer.
World-famous artist Chuck Connelly channelled all of his sorrow and rage over the Sandy Hook school shootings into a 10- by 12-foot masterpiece honoring the 20 children who died in the tragedy. This month, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the shooting, Villanova University displayed Connelly’s masterwork—the first major institution to have done so.
6.
Jeff Meade
Last two-parter, we promise.
On September 27, Gareth “Gaffer” Haughey—an Armagh native living in Upper Darby—went missing. The longer he was away, the more alarmed his many friends became. They met at the Irish Immigration Center to organize a massive search. On October 16, days before the search was to begin, Haughey suddenly materialized, no worse for wear. His friends were greatly relieved—although Immigration Center director Siobhan Lyons quipped, “they’re also lining to slap him for being so much trouble.”
7.
Lorna Byrne: Blessed By the Angels
Lori Lander Murphy
Lorna Byrne, Lori Lander Murphy wrote, “sees angels the way most of us see other people; to her, these ethereal beings are a very solid physical manifestation. And, she assures us, every single one of us has our own guardian angel following us at all times.” On St. Patrick’s Day—a day typically more secular than sacred—Lori attended an event at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Church in Chestnut Hill at which Byrne brought peace and comfort to all who attended. A fitting end to a day dedicated to a a saint’s memory.
8.
Looking for Help for the Families of Political Prisoners
Denise Foley
“Port Richmond born-and-bred” carpenter and former Ancient Order of Hibernians president Jim Lockhart is a lifelong Irish republican. He’s always been involved in Irish causes, but three years ago he became involved in fund-raising for a non-political group Friends of Irish Freedom, an organization that helps the families of Irish political prisoners. “With their mothers and fathers gone, these children go without,” he told Denise Foley, “so we try to help.”
9.
Around the World With Bagpipes
Denise Foley
A great little profile from Denise: “For the last 25 years, whenever someone needs a bagpiper, it’s Charlie Rutan they call. He’s the owner of Bagpipes FAO (For All Occasions), supplying solo and group pipers and pipe bands for every conceivable event from weddings and funerals to store openings and retirement parties. On the face of it, it doesn’t seem like a lucrative career choice, but you’d be surprised how busy a bagpipe business can be.”
10.
Denise Foley
Another great profile, this one about one of our very favorite people, harpist Ellen Formanek Tepper—who also happens to be a very gifted artist whose specialty is inspired by minutiae from illuminated gospels created by 9th century Irish monks> She paints them on glass. “I call it taking minutiae and make them huge and bringing light to the Dark Ages.”
