Denise Foley

Pat Montgomery, left, with Michael Bradley, who found Joe Montgomery’s blackthorn stick.

Joe Montgomery’s future father-in-law, Patrick Joseph Collis, came over from Sligo to America in 1911 carrying one of his prized possessions, a blackthorn walking stick, what the Irish call a shillelagh.

It was, like all blackthorn sticks, thick and knotty with a large knob at the top. Traditionally, the knob served as a handle, or, when the situation called for it, as a cudgel to use against an opponent. Montgomery, who died in December 2014 at the age of 95, never used it that way. He was always a gentleman, those who knew him say. He saw it as a link to his Irish heritage, and he cherished it.

Collis had given the stick to Montgomery, who had married his daughter, Mary, shortly after Montgomery returned from the service in World War II, where he was in the US Army Air Corps. He carried it with him everywhere. In his later years, it provided added dash to the appearance of the former truck driver, member of Teamsters Local 500, and Ancient Order of Hibernians president, known for his dapper suits and rakishly tilted top hat.

But a few years ago, Montgomery, who served for 60 years on the board of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Association, slipped and fell on the muddy ground near the reviewing stand at the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade which he attended faithfully every year. An ambulance took him to Hahnemann Hospital where he was treated and released—he made a grand entrance at the post-parade party none the worse for wear—but somehow, in the confusion, he got separated from the stick.

Montgomery was heartbroken. And desperate. He contacted parade director, Michael Bradley. “He must have called me 10 times and I called all the board members, the people at CBS3 who televise the parade, the caterers and no one found it,” Bradley said recently. “He kept calling over and over and my heart was just breaking for him.”

This year, Montgomery was named to the St. Patrick’s Ring of Honor posthumously. The members of the Joseph F. Montgomery AOH Div. 65—Michael Bradley’s division—honored their fallen president by tipping their caps at the reviewing stand. Bradley, who was then in full parade directors’ mode when they made their touching gesture, had a little secret. Though Joe Montgomery wasn’t going to march in another parade, his blackthorn stick might.

“It was the strangest thing,” said Bradley, sitting across the table from Montgomery’s son, Patrick, last weekend at the Irish Center. “I was doing a radio interview with Michael Concannon [host of WVCH 740AM’s Irish Hour, which is aired every Saturday] and, I don’t know why, I started talking about Joe Montgomery’s lost stick when Mike, who has been a parade judge for years, said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, is one of these it?”

Concannon showed him two sticks, one, dark, gnarled and split, the spitting image of Joe Montgomery’s shillelagh. “I knew as soon as I saw it that it was Joe’s. Mike said , ‘One year, someone found it and handed it to me.’ I couldn’t find out who it belonged to so I just kept it.’

“After he lost it, I talked to everyone. . .but I never thought to ask one of the judges,” Bradley said.

So on Sunday, Bradley put the long lost blackthorn stick in Pat Montgomery’s hands. “When Michael called me I felt fantastic,” said Pat Montgomery. “I sure wish he was still alive to see it, but at least it’s back.”

And it may be marching in the parade next year. “At the parade, I wore the pants from the suit he always wore, and my youngest son, Brian, wore his hat,” said Montgomery. “Now everything’s together.”

See photos below for a closer look at the stick and Joe Montgomery at past parades.

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Karen Boyce McCollum and her uncle Kevin McGillian performing at The Plough and Stars.

We had breakfast at the Plough and the Stars, watched Irish dancers and a flag-raising ceremony at the Irish Memorial, went to the supermarket for potatoes–George’s Shop ‘N Bag in Dresher, because we heard they had live Irish music in the bakery and they did–and had lunch with the  200 seniors who filled the ballroom at the Irish Center for ham and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, and a couple of different kinds of spuds and dessert, a joint production of the Irish Center, the Irish Immigration Center, and 11 stalwart volunteers.

Then, we took naps. It’s a grueling couple of weeks covering everything going on in Philly’s vibrant Irish community, but undeniable craic–Irish for fun.

We took our cameras with us, so you can see where we were on Tuesday.

What did you do?

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Philly Parade Grand Marshal Kathy McGee Burns.

There were more than 200 groups marching, about half a dozen Pope Francis imitators (and one Elvis), and in some places the crowds were five- and six-people deep, despite the bitter cold temps and wind that swept up the Parkway like an icy punch. That’s the definition of success for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade which went off without a hitch on Sunday.

Many of the Saturday parades were called or postponed, so along with Philly Grand Marshal Kathy McGee Burns, who was president of the parade association for two years, there were two other grand marshals in the parade–Mickey McBride from the Conshohocken parade (postponed till March 28), who marched with McGee Burns at her invitation, and William McCusker, GM of the cancelled Springfield Township, Delco, parade, who marched with Cardinal O’Hara High School, where he served as president for 13 years. Parade Director Michael Bradley contacted all the organizers of the parades that were weather casualties and invited them to join in Philly’s celebration.

At one point he delighted the crowds at the reviewing stand by donning a curly Irish dancer wig for a time as he coordinated between the parade participants and the CW-Philly and CBS3 crew filming the event. He later explained that he did it to cheer up McDade-Cara dance school owners Sheila McGrory Sweeney and Maureen Heather Lisowski, whose father, John McGrory, died recently.

We were there from beginning to end with four photographers. Click on the links below to view our photos.

Parade Photo Essay 1. 

Parade Photo Essay 2.

Parade Photo Essay 3.

Parade Photo Essay 4.

Michael and Linda Bradley

At its 244th annual St. Patrick’s Day Gala at the Union League in Philadelphia, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick President Bernard Buckley gave the president’s award to Michael Bradley in honor of his years of service to the Irish community.

For the past 13 years, Bradley, a former president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Association, has been director of the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade which marches down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway the Sunday before the holiday rain or shine. Or as Bradley always puts it, “dry or liquid sunshine.”

In the past two years, along with serving on the boards at Cardinal O’Hara High School, which his two sons, Colin and Mickey attended, and Penn State where he earned a degree in business and marketing, he has been chairman of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Advisory Council for Elementary Education in Delaware County. The council is working on a strategic plan to keep the 23 archdiocesan grade schools still open in the county alive and well.

Bradley, accompanied to the gala by his wife, Linda, appeared surprised when Buckley called his name and was visibly emotional as he accepted the award.

Photos from the event are below.

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Two Philly Roses: Maria Walsh and her successor, Mairead Comaskey.

Like more than a few young girls whose parents came from Ireland, Mairead Comaskey of Malvern grew up watching the International Rose of Tralee pageant, Ireland’s version of Miss America and one of the highest rated shows on Irish television.

“I used to think, oh the girls are so pretty, I want to be like that,” recalls the 27-year-old culture specialist at Vanguard Group. “Then when you’d hear what the Roses have done. . .they are impressive people. I thought, I’d like to get to know some of them.”

When she was in high school, she got her wish. She met 2004 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Sinead De Roiste, herself the daughter of an Irish immigrant. “She told me that I should enter and I thought, oh, she’s crazy,” laughs Mairead. “But she planted the idea.”

Mairead entered the competition for the first time when she was a college sophomore in 2007; that year’s winner was Colleen Gallagher. “I met such really nice girls that year and I realized it was all about the camaraderie. I thought, ‘I have to do this again,’” she says.

It took her about eight years to give it a second go. “I was nervous for a few years,” she confesses with a laugh. But the wait may have been the charm. On March 7 at the Radnor Hotel, Mairead, a tall, dark-haired woman with the lean body of a runner, was selected to represent Philadelphia in the Rose of Tralee regional festival in late May in Portlaoise, County Laois. See photos below. If she wins there, she’ll compete this summer in the International Festival, the one she’s been watching since she was a little girl. She follows Maria Walsh, the Philly Rose who was chosen the 2014 International Rose of Tralee. She’s one of the Roses Mairead has been most anxious to meet.

“She’s one of the most loved international Roses in a long time and I’m delighted to get to know her and be alongside her for the rest of this year,” she says.

Mairead Comaskey is one of seven children of Mickey and Breda Comaskey. Mickey, owner of Carnagh Construction, emigrated to the US from Mullhoran, County Cavan; Breda, a sales rep for Nerium, a cosmetics company, came from Letterkenny, County Donegal. “My parents met here, then my mom went back to Ireland so they were apart for a year before they got married,” says Mairead. She has five sisters—four of whom were there the night she was crowned—and one brother.

The child of immigrants doesn’t live far from home (Philadelphia), but she has the traveling bug—something she’ll get to indulge if she’s chosen the international Rose: Since last summer Maria Walsh has traveled all over the US, Ireland, parts of Europe, Chernobyl, India, and is headed to Australia.

“I started when I was 16, traveling independently as an exchange student and I got hooked on it,” says Mairead. She majored in international studies at Arcadia University which is known for its study abroad programs. While a student there, she spent time in London, Taiwan, and the Netherlands. She also lived in South Africa “where I did all kinds of outdoorsy things and learned how to surf.” She also worked for two summers for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Ireland. JRS works with refugees and people who have been forced from their native lands.

She thinks her world traveling, experience and the benefit of a few years made the difference in her win this year. “The idea of following Maria gives me a little stage fright,” she says with a laugh, “but I’m really confident about who I am so I’m looking forward to a great year.”

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Deputy Prime Minister Joan Burton , far right, poses for photos at the Union League.

Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Joan Burton went though Philadelphia like a whirlwind last weekend, making stops at the Irish Center, the University of Pennsylvania, Davio’s, and the Union League, where she met with Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Mike Stack before the annual St. Patrick’s Day Gala of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the oldest Irish organization in the US.

Her message was a two-parter. First, thanks for “your support and understanding for Ireland” during the 2008 collapse of the Irish construction industry and bank failures that crippled the Irish economy. She credited the investment of American companies in helping Ireland recover, principally in the tech, medical, and pharmaceutical sectors that are also a strong part of Pennsylvania’s economy and in Philadelphia in particular.

And her second message? “Come to Ireland this year. “

“With the fall of the euro [which is almost equal to the dollar] a good meal and a couple of pints will be more affordable,” she told an appreciative black-tie crowd at the Union League on Saturday night.

Tourism contributes about 5 billion Euro to the Irish economy each year, about four percent of its gross national product (GNP).

Burton also reminisced with the crowd about her college days when she had a J-1 student visa and worked in Atlantic City. “I earned enough to pay for my semester and to buy a nice little motorbike,” she said, adding, “which I sold—for a profit.”

Burton is the leader of the Labour Party in Ireland and also serves as minister for social protection which is responsible for assistance plans for everything from unemployment to retirement. She grew up in Dublin, an adopted child of an iron foundry worker and his wife. She was first elected to the Dail Eireann in 1992.

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Grand Marshall Kathy McGee Burns with her daughter, Judge Kelly Wall.

The Irish are great about a lot of things, but maybe the best thing they do is never restrict a big party to just one day. St. Patrick’s Day is Tuesday and the Philly Parade is on Sunday, but there’s been one party after another all week.

On Thursday, The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick held its annual wreath-laying at City Hall under the plaque honoring the Irish who signed the Declaration of Independence and fought in the Revolutionary War. Councilman-at-Large Ed Neilson took over Mayor Michael Nutter’s job (he was unavailable) of reading the city’s proclamation honoring the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

Later, the annual sashing of the Grand Marshal–this year, Kathy McGee Burns, president of the Irish Memorial and the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame and a member of more than half a dozen other Irish organizations–and the St. Patrick’s Ring of Honor took place at the Doubletree Hotel on Broad Street in Philadelphia.

Below you can see our photos from both events.

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