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Ancient Order of Hibernians

News

Wildwood Irish Weekend In Photos

Fun, frivolity and street smooching: It's Irish Weekend 2010.

Fun, frivolity and street smooching: It's Irish Weekend 2010. (Photo by Lisa Marie Hunt)

Another Wildwood Irish Weekend fades into memory—well, for some people, anyway, the ones who can actually remember—but thanks to photographer Lisa Marie Hunt, we have photos that could be placed in evidence should that become necessary.

Lest we forget—this is a fundraiser by the AOH Cape May Div. 1 and they use the money for a variety of charities including the Hibernian Hunger Project, a national campaign to provide food for the needy. So anyway you look at it, it’s a good thing.

Check out Lisa’s photos.

People, Sports

Bowling for Hunger

Hibernian bowlers in action.

Hibernian bowlers in action.

It must have been a little painful for Jim Donnelly to watch the 40 bowlers on his Hibernian Hunger Project league roll games with scores that might be great out on the gold course, but in a bowling alley. . .not so much.

“They ain’t the greatest bowlers,” deadpanned Donnelly, the bowling team coach at Father Judge High School, “but. . . “

But, over the past 12 weeks, these bowlers, dropping $5 into the kitty every Tuesday night at Thunderbird Lanes in the Northeast, have raised about $2,500 for the Hibernian Hunger Project (HHP), a program that feeds thousands of needy people in the Philadelphia area and, since it’s been adopted as an official charity of the national Ancient Order of Hibernians, tens of thousands around the country.

Founded in 2000 by former AOH Div. 87 President Bob Gessler, the program delivers food—usually packaged meals prepared fresh by volunteers during the annual “Cook-in”—to senior centers, homeless shelters, churches, and service agencies such as Aid for Friends which provides meals to the elderly and shut-ins.

“The bowling league is illustrative of what we envision the Hibernian Hunger Project to be,” says Gessler. “Jim Donnelly on his own initiative decided that he could combine fun with helping others. He had a great idea, put it out there and like-minded people joined together and made a real difference. That is the HHP, the power of people joining together to help those in need.”

We went out to Thunderbird Lanes this week and saw what it looks like when you combine fun with helping others.

People

Three New Honorees for AOH Joseph E. Montgomery Division 65

Kathy McGee Burns and Mickey Walsh

Kathy McGee Burns and her "date" Mickey Walsh.

As she received the third annual Joseph E. Montgomery Award from Ancient Order of Hibernians Div. 62 on Sunday—the first woman to be given the award—Kathy McGee Burns joked that the event was her “second date” with another award-winner, Mickey Walsh, former president of the division.

The two had actually met when she was 16 and he was 20 and a lifeguard at the Jersey shore. She explained that he had invited her to his 21st birthday party as his date, though because she had lied about her age, he didn’t know how young she was. They didn’t meet again for several decades when she saw him sitting on a stool in the bar at the Irish Center—a home away from home for McGee Burns, who was the first woman president of the Donegal Association and current president of the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, just two of the many organizations in which she takes a leadership role.

“I went up to him and asked him if he was Mickey Walsh,” she told the crowd at the Spring Valley Banquet Center in Springfield on Sunday, April 11. “He said, ‘Yep.’ Then I asked him, ‘Do you remember your date at your 21st birthday party. He said, ‘Nope.’”

The man of few words laughed heartily along with the rest of the audience.

The AOH—the Joseph E. Montgomery Division, the only AOH named for a living person—is in its third year of its Fleadh an Earraigh, honoring those who live the AOH motto of friendship, unity and Christian charity.

Also honored this year were James Feerick, a 43-year member of AOH Div. 65. The eldest of six children born to James and Anne Frank of County Mayo, Feerick, a lawyer and graduate of Villanova Law School, is also a musician who played with the All Ireland Orchestra and with local musicians Tommy Moffit and Joe Burke. He has served on the board of the Philadelphia Irish Center, and is a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick the Knights of Columbus Trinity Council in Upper Darby, the St. Thomas Moore Alumni Association, and the Mayo Association, for which his sister, Sister James Ann, serves as chaplain.

Harry “Mickey” Walsh, also the son of Irish immigrants, a Navy Reserve veteran, ran the family business, Walsh’s Classic Tavern in University City, until 1996 when the business was sold. He is a former Democratic ward leader in Philadelphia’s 27th Ward and worked as a liaison between the juvenile courts and parents of troubled teens to help keep families together. He was the first president of the Haverford Hawks Youth Ice Hockey Club and has volunteered at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby.

Food & Drink, People

Stew Cook-Off Winners Rise to the Top

Hibernian Hunger Project

Tom Coffey, right, Mary Carr, and daughter Bernadette. (Click on photo for more.)

On one side of the table, Mary Carr. On the other, son-in-law Tom Coffey. In front of each: a foil tray filled with simmering Irish stew. Her stew. His stew. And only one stew can be … the best. It’s Mom vs. Tom.

On this Sunday afternoon at Finnigan’s Wake in Northern Liberties … Tom is the winner. His Irish stew is judged the best in the amateur category at the Sixth Annual Great Irish Stew Cook-Off, sponsored by the Hibernian Hunger Project.

Tom Coffey accepted his award with grace. Of Mary Carr, he said, “She needed a good ass whuppin’.”

But seriously, now, folks … “She (Mary) is a good sport,” says Tom. “I didn’t marry my wife. I married a family, and they’re a very social group.”

So no worries about where Tom Coffey will have Easter dinner. Rivalry aside, Tom’s making dinner. “And I always invite myself,” he says.

Here are the other winners:

  • Hibernian: Maryanne Burnett (LAOH 87)
  • Irish Organization: Helen DeGrand (Mayo Association)
  • Professional: Josh Landau (a 2007 winner)
  • People’s Choice: Team Kerrigan (a 2009 winner)
People

Everyone’s Favorite Leprechaun Gets a Big Honor as He Retires

Ed Slivak at the Penn's Landing Irish Festival.

Ed Slivak at the Penn's Landing Irish Festival.

The 2009 Conshohocken St. Patrick’s Day Parade was over. Ed Slivak had spent the afternoon traipsing up and down Fayette Street dressed up as Swedesburg AOH Division 1’s leprechaun—bent pipe, pointy ears, green top hat, orange beard and all. It had been a great parade, and Slivak was on top of the world.

“I was happy as hell,” he recalls. “I’d been waving to everybody. At the end of the parade, I stopped at a tavern for a beer, but I suddenly didn’t feel so good. I bumped into a friend, Jimmy Gallagher (the district justice in Bridgeport), and he got someone to drive me to my car. So I drove home, and I got out of my car. And that’s all I remember. The next thing I know, I was in Montgomery Hospital. I didn’t remember anything.”

Slivak, a member of the vibrant Montgomery County division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians since 2001, had suffered a debilitating stroke. What followed were five long, often discouraging months of hospitalization and rehabilitation. He’s back home now in Swedesburg with his wife Gi (short for Virginia) and their little pug General Patton, and slowly getting back on his feet again, seeing a physical therapist twice a week. Still, there’s no question that it’s been a long road.

“It scared the hell out of me—I’m lucky to be alive,” says Slivak, 68, who credits his wife for nursing him back from the brink. “If you met me today you wouldn’t believe how I’m getting around. You can hear I’m talking pretty good. Sometimes it takes me time to think a little more. At one point, I dropped down to 114 pounds; I had been up to 210. I’m back to 145 now. I think the Lord was calling me for judgment day, but St. Patrick, St. Brendan and St. Bridget all went to the Lord, and they gave me a little extra time on earth.”

Slivak’s abiding faith—he’s a member of Sacred Heart Parish near his home—gives him the courage to keep on going, to take what probably seem like giant steps toward recovery, like moving from a walker to the use of a cane. He treasures the loving support of his wife and children, which gives him additional strength. Without them, he confesses, “I would have given up.”

But Slivak has one other powerful incentive to get better. He is the grand marshal of the 2010 Conshohocken parade.

He’s known about the honor for quite some time. “Judge Gallagher told me about it while I was still in the hospital,” he says. Now he’s counting the days until March 6—the Grand Marshal’s Ball—and, finally, March 13, when he, his wife, grandchild Michael and great-grandchild Clare will hop into a convertible and slowly drive down Fayette Street at the head of the parade.

You might be wondering how a guy with the last name of Slivak gets to be grand marshal of a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Slivak, he explains, is his stepfather’s name. “He took care of me,” says Slivak, who was raised in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood and attended Immaculate Conception Church. “He was a good man.”

The Irish heritage is all on his mother Clare’s side. She was a Ward, and her father Bernard, a one-time boxer who fought under the name Joe Dougherty, was from Donegal. Slivak’s grandmother Marie was a Murphy, who came to the United States from Cork. He remembers spending a lot of time with her—and he fondly recalls her as a colorful, if plain-spoken character.

“Nana was born in 1875,” he says. “She just loved St. Joseph. She had an icon of him, and she said the rosary a lot. Nana often liked to have a cup of tea with me. One day when we were drinking our tea, I asked her: Do you hate the English? She said to me, you can’t get into heaven hating anybody—I just don’t like them. Nana had a great influence on me in life.”

So there was never really any question about Ed Slivak’s pedigree. But his Irish heritage never truly resonated with him until he retired from his job at the Philadelphia Inquirer—he was a tearsheets clerk—and moved to Swedesburg in 2001. That’s the same year he joined AOH Division 1 on Jefferson Street.

“It’s a big Irish family when you join the AOH,” Slivak says. “I remember, I didn’t know what the initials stood for. But in the past 10 years I’ve learned a lot more about being a Catholic and Irish.”

It was Slivak’s membership in the AOH that led to his star turn as a leprechaun. Pete Hand, president of the division, approached Slivak one day about six years ago and suggested that he dress up as a leprechaun. (Hand insists Slivak looks like a leprechaun even without the get-up.) That first year, Slivak recalls, his costume wasn’t very good: “I looked like an immigrant, just off the boat.”

He also wasn’t very comfortable in the role. “The first time,” he says, “it was for a St. Paddy’s parade. I felt a little goofy. I thought, here I am a grown man dressing up as a leprechaun.”

The next year, Hand and Slivak resolved to do better, and they purchased a costume on eBay for about $225. “After that I started hamming it up,” he says. “The next thing I know, people are coming up and wanting their picture taken with me.” (One of those leprechaun fans was former President Bill Clinton, who was in Girardville, Schuylkill County, for the St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2007.)

Slivak has settled into the part with great enthusiasm. He’s especially fond of kids, who are always astonished to find a real, live leprechaun in their midst—and a big one at that. “I tell them in a brogue that I’m from Donegal, and that leprechauns are bigger there,” he says. “They ask me how old I am. I tell them I’m 386 years old. I give them a lot of blarney.”

The self-proclaimed “Polish leprechaun” has also used his celebrity status to do a lot of good for kids. He takes up collections wherever he goes in his costume and raises money for St. Christopher’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. Every year, he manages to collect a couple of thousand dollars.

With all that has happened to him in the past year, though, Ed Slivak’s leprechaun days soon will be over. He’ll be handing over the duties to an apprentice—an 11-year-old boy.

On March 13, Division 1’s celebrated leprechaun will make one last appearance in full regalia, in the 2010 Conshohocken parade. After all, Slivak says, “That’s what got me there. I’m like a Santa Claus when there’s a parade.”

News

Philadelphia Backs Irish Unity Move

Liz and Pearse Kerr, at right, with Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey at far left, and AOH National President Seamus Boyle with the city council resolution. Photo by Sarah Emenheister.

Liz and Pearse Kerr, at right, with Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey at far left, and AOH National President Seamus Boyle with the city council resolution. Photo by Sarah Emenheister.

When Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) National President Seamus Boyle formally accepted a copy of Philadelphia City Council’s resolution calling for a united Ireland last week, it was a personal triumph for Jenkintown’s Liz Kerr and her husband, Pearse.

Each AOH division has an officer whose job it is to keep the dream of a united Ireland alive, and Liz Kerr is the Freedom for All Ireland officer for Ladies AOH Brigid McCrory Div. 25. The provision of the 12-year-old Good Friday Agreement–which brought peace to Northern Ireland and paved the way for the two Irelands to be rejoined– is never far from her mind. And there are things her husband of 28 years, Pearse, can never forget.

At the age of 17, Pearse Kerr was pulled from his home and held in a Belfast prison without being charged—legal in the 1970s under the Special Powers Act. Kerr, who suffered a broken wrist and rib while in custody, was released after the US Congress intervened: Pearse Kerr, his jailers learned, was an American citizen, born while his Irish parents lived in the US.

“So you can imagine why this issue is so close to our hearts,” says Liz Kerr. Both the city and national AOH pursued the resolution, turning to Councilman-at-large James Kenney to draft it; all 17 council members co-sponsored and voted for it in December.

“It really grew out of the Irish American Unity Forum that was held this summer in New York,” says Kerr. Hosted by Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams, the event drew 700 participants, including representatives from dozens of Irish-American organizations, activists, and representatives of both the Irish and British governments who talked about what form a united Ireland might take.

One directive every group walked away with was to mobilize grassroots support in the US and ultimately internationally to end the partition “the same way the Sullivan principles brought down apartheid,” says Kerr. The Sullivan principles, an effort to put economic pressure on South Africa to end state-sponsored segregation, were introduced by Philadelphia minister, the Rev. Leon Sullivan. In the 1980s, more than 125 American businesses with operations in South Africa agreed to withdraw their divisions and investments until apartheid laws were appealed.

In this case, says Kerr, the AOH and other groups are working “city by city, group by group” to encourage American lawmakers to adopt resolutions similar to the one Philadelphia passed. “I think what really made the council pass it unanimously is that this is the 20-year anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down and it’s been 20 years since South Africa abolished apartheid and they recognized that the separation of the two Irelands is just another artificial boundary that has to come down,” she says.

So far, San Francisco, Syracuse, and Cleveland have adopted united Ireland resolutions. “We’ve met with the Pittsburgh AOH and they’re actively working on it there,” says Kerr. “We really need to work on New York, Chicago, and Boston” which have large Irish-American populations.

Kerr, whose grandparents came from Galway, met her husband after reading about his ordeal in the newspaper. After his prison experience, he moved to the US to live with relatives in the Philadelphia area. “He was my high school history project at Cardinal Dougherty,” she explains. “He came to my current events class and talked about what he went through. I got an ‘A,’” she laughs.

People

Marching Since 1955, Seamus Boyle Gets to Wear the Top Hat in The 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Seamus Boyle, center, at a Commodore Barry commemoration.

Seamus Boyle, center, at a Commodore Barry commemoration.

Seamus Boyle arrived in Philadelphia from County Armagh in 1954. In 1955, with his father Terence, he marched in his first Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade. Boyle has marched in the Philly parade almost every year ever since.

This year is no exception. But this year’s parade is going to be extra-special for the burly, low-key Boyle, a resident of the Academy Gardens neighborhood in the Northeast. He’ll be marching at the head of the parade as grand marshal.

Boyle is no stranger to honors. A longtime member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians Division 39 in Tacony, Boyle last year was elected AOH national president—the first national president from Philadelphia since 1927 and a three-to-one favorite.

Still, he says, “I was humbled and shocked that I was even considered for it. I was told maybe a month or so before the election that my name was put in. Then when I was told I won, that was unbelievable. It’s a great honor, especially when I look at some of the people who came before me. There’re some very serious high-class people there.”

It’s an especially great honor when he thinks how far the parade has come. Back when he was first starting his annual St. Patrick’s Day parade tradition, it was much smaller. “It was not anywhere as big as it is today,” he says. “It’s grown even over the past 20 years.”

AOH representation in the parade is pretty much taken for granted. About 20 Philadelphia-area divisions march in the parade now. But back in 1955, only three or divisions took part—but of course, there weren’t that many AOH divisions in Philadelphia then, either. The AOH, too, has grown.

“It’s a privilege for me to represent the AOH in the parade,” he says. “The AOH is probably the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the country, and it’s known all over. In Philadelphia, it has grown tremendously. I think this is great for the AOH. We do a lot to bring out the culture and heritage of Ireland. This helps our cause.”

Boyle is also pleased to represent the Irish immigrant population. As a member of the AOH, he has been very involved in promoting peace in Northern Ireland and Irish unity. He hasn’t forgotten his roots in the North. The fact that the parade committee selected an immigrant, he says, makes it “all the more impressive.”

Parade Director Michael Bradley says Boyle’s Northern Ireland efforts were one of the main reasons he was recognized to head the March 14 parade. “He’s been going over the Belfast for years,” Bradley says. “He represents Philadelphia very well over there in all the good things he does.”

The fact that Boyle is national president of the AOH also probably played a role, but that was not the principal reason for his selection. Boyle has been very active in the Philadelphia Irish community for quite some time, including his activities at Division 39. Boyle’s national AOH leadership, Bradley says, is “just icing on the cake. But he’s being honored for a lifetime of service. He was long overdue for grand marshal. There’s five or six people who are so deserving and its so hard to select one person every year.”

Boyle is obviously excited to have been picked, and that too is gratifying, says Bradley. “When they see a grand marshal who is thrilled and very happy to be honored, it makes us feel like we did a good job,” he says. “Then our marshals get excited and it transfers to everyone involved in the parade. It just seems to spread.”

One reason for Boyle’s clear excitement is simply this: his memories of his father’s own involvement in the parade. That’s who he’ll be thinking about as he marches up the Parkway. His father Terence passed away in 1992, but the parade was always close to his heart. “My father brought me to my first parade in ’55. While he was alive, I don’t think he missed too many parades, either. He was always there. It would be nice if he was still around to march with me up at the head of the

News, People

2009 Irish Hall of Fame Inductee: Joe Montgomery

Joseph E. Montgomery

Joseph E. Montgomery

By Kathy McGee Burns

“A Gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.”—George Bernard Shaw

Joe Montgomery’s friend and long time associate, Bob Gessler, says, “Joseph Mongomery is the gold standard for what it means to be an Irish Gentleman.” Joe is being honored by the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame on November 15th, as it celebrates its 9th Annual Awards Dinner.

His whole life represents service to his country, religion, profession and heritage. He is the ultimate family man and true friend to all. Born in 1919 (yes, that makes him 90), he is the son of John J. and Rose Moran Montgomery. Joe’s father had been sickly off and on following World War I. He died when Joe was 10, forcing him to be “the man of the family.” This was during the Depression years.

Rumor has it that Joe Montgomery’s fathers people were from Cavan but we definitely know that Rose Moran’s family came from County Mayo. His Great Grandfather David Moran served in the Civil War, first on the USS Galena, commissioned in 1862, an unclad screw steamer that was part of a unit of Admiral David Farragut. Later he finished his service on the USS Philadelphia.

Joe was a dutiful student at Epiphany of Our Lord School (11th and Jackson), serving as an altar boy and a choir member. He also attended the Purple and the Gold, Roman Catholic High School. While he was there, he played for a team called the “Mighty Mites,” named for their collective lack of height. Three of his teammates went on to be champion players for St. Joseph College: Matt Goukas, Dan Kenny and John Mc Mena-
min.

Montgomery enlisted in the Army Air Corp, 1939, and spent 44 months in Panama and the Pacific Theatre. He managed to rise to the rank of top sergeant.

Marriage was easy for Joe, all 55 years of it, because he had captured the heart of the beautiful, Mary Collis. Mary, whose family was from Sligo, was a member of Trans- figuration Parish. Joe sang in their choir from 1937 to 1980. They had three children, Kathleen, Patrick and Joanne. Mary was Joe’s right hand. When I mentioned her name, there was glee in his voice and he said, What about her! She was the only one for him and he was the only one for her. “Mary made me look good.” They worked side by side in all they did. Mary passed away in 1998.

Joe worked as a Teamster for 35 years retiring in 1981.

Joe Montgomery’s dedication to service for others and especially for Irish causes defines his character. Here are some of his accomplishments:

  • He is the Past President of the Irish-American Societies of the Delaware Valley and honored as their Man of the Year in 1983.
  • Past President of the Commodore John Barry U.S.N. Society
  • Past Chairman of the Philadelphia Chapter National Immigration Committee
  • Past President of the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Committee
  • Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Parade 1993
  • Advisory Committee of the “Treasures of Early Irish Art”

Joe told me that the year he was Grand Marshal there was a terrible blizzard. The rules state that there is no rain date but the then Mayor, Edward Rendell, insisted that the march go on the following week.

Joe Montgomery’s greatest love is his AOH, Division #65. He served as tpresident for 42 years and now holds the title of president emeritus. He has also been the state AOH president, served four terms as Philadelphia president and in1992, Joe was awarded the highest honor: Gold Card Life Member.
He is also the recipient of an honor unprecedented in the history of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. On the 100th Anniversary of Division 65, the members decided to name the group after Montgomery. All AOH divisions are named after deceased members. But Joe had once commented that given his long-time service to the AOH, that maybe when he died they would name the division after him. At the ceremony, former Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney said Joe was the first person he ever knew that got his dying wish while he was still alive.

“Those fellows couldn’t treat their own fathers better than they treat me,” Joe told me. During the 2007 national convention in New Orleans they bought him a first class plane ticket. When he balked, they said, “You are first class.”

Fellow Div. 64 member Jim Kilgallen says Joe Montgomery is king of the one liners. A few of his best:

  • John McDoe would give an aspirin a headache
  • John McDoe could start a fight in an empty room
  • John McDoe is as cold as a landlady’s heart
  • John McDoe is as popular as a widow with a pension.

All of his AOH brothers have stories to tell about Joe Montgomery. Pat Mulhern said Joe doesn’t have an enemy in the world. “At conventions, everyone knows him; they run up to him and practically kiss his ring.” I asked Joe Martin what was interesting about Joe. He laughed and said “Everything about Joe Montgomery is interesting.”