Kathleen Quigg
A Barry Girl Turns 80
Her grandchildren had her whirling around the Irish Center’s dance floor in her wheelchair (see photo above), and Kathleen Quigg appeared to be enjoying every minute of it as she celebrated her 80th birthday with family and friends on Sunday, September 12.
The widow of Eddie Quigg, a former manager at the Irish Center (whom she met at a dance in Germantown, Kathleen Quigg is the mother of four (Michael, Brian, Kathy and Maureen), and grandmother to, well, let’s say, many. She has been part of the fabric of the Irish community since she arrived in the US from Buncrana, County Donegal, as a young woman looking for work.
An inductee in the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, Kathleen Quigg was known as one of the Barry Girls, a group of young women who spent a good part of their time at the Irish Center (there were Barry Boys too). Many still do, and old friends such as Sarah Walsh, Mary Brennan, and Michele Higgins were on hand to celebrate her big day.
Blackthorne Resort Burns to the Ground
Hundreds of local fans of Irish trad music who have slept, drank, and session-ed at the Blackthorne Resort in East Durham, NY, during Catskills Irish Arts Week every July were saddened to learn that the main facility at the Inn burned down last Saturday. The accidental fire was apparently sparked by a steam table burner in the banquet hall.
The resort was packed with bikers celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Catskill Mountain Thunder event. No one was hurt, but the building was reduced to charred rubble even though firefighters from seven companies battled the blaze that quickly overwhelmed the wooden structure.
Paul Edward Keating, the artistic director of the popular festival, whose faculty includes some of Irish traditional music’s brightest lights, said he was “thinking so much of the Handel Family [Blackthorne’s owners] who put their blood, sweat and tears into the place for so long and helped keep East Durham Alive through their hard work and sheer determination to keep it a resort area. They will need a lot of support to overcome this massive setback but I know there are many out there willing to help them in whatever ways it takes.”
You can watch a home video of the blaze here.
Kildare’s KOP Location Closed
Local Irish pub czar Dave Magrogran closed the doors of Kildare’s Irish Pub’s King of Prussian location a week ago. But you know what they say, when one door closes, another opens. New Kildare’s debuted in State College and across from the Notre Dame University campus in South Bend, IN.
The Irish Center Board with members of the Inspirational Irish Women committee.
Pay Day
Members of the Inspirational Irish Women Committee presented a check to the Irish Center board of directors on Tuesday night—proceeds from the May 24 event at the Irish Center which honored 11 women of Irish descent from the Delaware Valley whose intelligence, courage, generosity, pride, strength, and grace embodied the Irish spirit.
Among the honorees were Project Home’s Sister Mary Scullion, Campbell’s Soup executive Denise Sullivan Morrison, Connolly Foundation Executive Vice President and philanthropist Emily Riley, and Princess Grace of Monaco, whose nephew, J.B. Kelly, accepted the posthumous award on behalf of her children.
The event, which also kicked off an ongoing art exhibit of portraits by artist Pat Gallagher, raised money for both the Irish Center and for Project Home, Sister Mary Scullion’s nationally acclaimed program to end homelessness in the Philadelphia area. The Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia was fiscal sponsor of the event. Executive Director Siobhan Lyons was on hand to help present the check to Irish Center Board President Vincent Gallagher. Other Inspirational Irish Women committee members Sarah Conaghan, Jocelyn McGillian and Denise Foley were at the meeting.
Aon Sceal is Irish for “Any news” so if you have any news, send it to us at denise.foley@comcast.net and let us tell everybody.
