Rosabelle Gifford – Irish in Philly

People

A Lifetime of Facing and Overcoming Challenges

Rosabelle Gifford

Rosabelle Gifford left England in 1958 as an impoverished single mother to bring five children to the Philadelphia area. She now presides over an extended family of 13 grandchildren, all college graduates, and 21 great-grandchildren.

“We were all poor during my childhood,” recalls Gifford, born Rosabelle Blaney in Doorin, Donegal. “There were no cars. We thought it a great adventure to get a ride home on the bar of some boy’s bicycle.”

One of those boys, Edward Harvey of Castleogary, married the young Rose Blaney and they had five children, raised in London following World War II. Living conditions in England following the war were terrible—not just because of widespread food rationing and shortages, but because Rosabelle’s marriage was disintegrating.

But adversity to Rosabelle simply meant another challenge to overcome. At a time when society frowned of divorce and single parenthood, she headed for the United States with her children, where she ultimately married again, this time to Charles Gifford, a World War II veteran.

Life has given Rosabelle some heartbreaking challenges that would test even the strongest person’s courage. Her beloved husband, Charlie Gifford, passed away more than 20 years ago, shortly after the death of her son-in-law Joseph McCullough. Her oldest son, Ted Harvey, died four years later, followed within five years by his wife Mae. Rosabelle cherishes spending time with her four surviving children: Rosemary McCullough, Kathleen Harshberger, Frank Harvey and James Harvey.

Five decades after arriving in Philadelphia, she is an inspiration to the Irish community, a longtime member of the Donegal Society of Philadelphia, staunch supporter of Irish affairs, and an avid advocate of educational opportunity for all and of programs to combat domestic violence. She is a friend to the downtrodden who combines remarkable energy with a powerful will.

In 2009, she was honored with the first-ever Mary O’Connor Spirit Award by the Philadelphia Rse of Tralee Centre, which is now presented annually to one Irish-American woman who is considered to be a role model for the younger generation of women in the community. The truth is, Rosabelle has surely inspired mostly everyone who has ever been lucky enough to meet her.

May 13, 2010 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Rosabelle Gifford: Woman of Spirit

When she was looking for the right candidate for the first annual Mary O’Connor Spirit Award to honor a woman from the local Irish-American community, Karen Conaghan says Rosabelle Gifford came to mind immediately.

“She’s very brassy, but not abrasive. Opinionated, spirited, courageous,” says Conaghan, who, with her sister, Sarah, coordinates the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee pageant, of which the award is now a part. “She’s better dressed than anyone we know. She enjoys life. She’s a total inspiration.”

I met Rosabelle Gifford this week. It’s all true.

Named for the original “Rose of Tralee,” who refused to marry her true love because she knew it would tear him from his disapproving family, the first Mary O’Connor Spirit Award is going to a woman who knows intimately how love can go wrong—and the meaning of courage and self-sacrifice.

She was Rosabelle Blaney of Gortward, Mountcharles, County Donegal, when she married Edward Harvey of Castleogary. The couple moved to post-war London where they went on to have five children, including a set of twins. But the marriage was not to last.

“It was a very bad marriage,” says Giffor. “He was drinking, running around with other women, and a wife-beater. I had to go.”

At a time when there was little help for abused women and families—and there was almost no housing in bombed-out London—Gifford had to plan her own escape. She sent two of her five children back to Ireland to live with her parents and one to Scotland to stay with her sister. “I knew they would be well cared for and I had to do it—I had no place to live,” she recalls.

In the early 1950s, when her oldest son, Ted Harvey, was considering enlisting in the British military, Gifford suggested that he go to America instead. “My two older sisters were living here and I told him that if he went, we would follow.” He did, and in 1958, his mother and his siblings moved into the apartment in Bryn Mawr he had rented and furnished for them.

“I got a job taking care of children. I was good at it,” chuckles Gifford. In fact, some of the children she cared for will be attending the award ceremony on Saturday night, June 27, during the 2009 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Selection Gala.

While at a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s house, Rosabelle met Charles Gifford, who worked in the accounting department of a steel company. They fell in love and married. She has been widowed for more than 20 years. “He was a good man. I needed that,” she says wistfully. “He was so good to my children too—so good to them.”

Her son, Ted, died many years ago of brain cancer. Three of her four remaining children, Rosemary McCullough, Kathleen Harshberger, Frank Harvey, and assorted grandchildren and great grandchildren will be attending the event. The fourth, son James Harvey, an educator, will be in China at the invitation of the Chinese government.

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t mentioned Rosabelle Gifford’s age. That’s because she doesn’t. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s business,” she says. “I think you’re just as old as you feel.”

Indeed.

June 25, 2009 by Denise Foley