Lawrence may not have a huge Irish culture like Chicago, New York or Kansas City, but the relatively few and proud Irish who live here cherish their heritage with a collective "Erin Go Bragh!"
"We don't send Christmas cards every year," says Colleen McGraw O'Malley of Lawrence. "We send St. Patrick's Day cards."
Colleen and her husband, Kevin, are descendants of Irish immigrants and, like many locals with similar family trees, they are knowledgeable and proud of their kelly green roots.
"My father was Francis Bernard O'Malley," Kevin says. "His mom and dad were born in Ireland in the County Mayo. They both got on the boat - not knowing each other - and landed in Chicago where they eventually met, got married and had kids. Dad was the youngest of nine.
"When we went to visit our oldest son, Michael, who was doing a semester at the University of Ireland at Galway, we went to the cemetery in Mayo and looked for my grandfather's grave. There were so many Thomas O'Malleys, we had to go by the dates (of his birth and death), but we finally found it. It was pretty cool, right next to the sea."
Colleen is the sixth of 12 McGraw children who grew up in Kansas City, Mo.
Past Event
St. Patrick's Day parade
- When: Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 1 p.m.
- Where: Downtown Lawrence, Lawrence
- Cost: Free
- More on this event....
"The McGraws were from the County Cork," she explains. "My dad William Joseph McGraw's parents came over on the boat and ended up in Kansas City. Dad was always involved in the Kansas City parade. It was a huge family tradition, and when we moved to Lawrence five years ago, we got involved with the parade here."
With an extensive wardrobe of green garb, including shamrock shoes, it's no wonder Colleen's Irish eyes start smiling whenever "Paddy's Day" rolls around.
"Starting March 1st, I start wearing green every day," she admits. "I really get into it. And we're huge Notre Dame fans. People think I actually went to Notre Dame, but I always say, 'No, I just wanted to.'"
"But if KU ever played Notre Dame," Kevin quickly adds, "we'd have to root for KU."
The couple's 10-year-old daughter is destined to carry on the family legacy, as if she had a choice with a name like Murphy O'Malley.
"Years ago, I was on a Southwest flight reading a magazine article about a play with a character named Murphy," Kevin recalls. "I remember thinking if I ever get married and have kids, I'd like to name my child Murphy, boy or girl."
"So, when we married and got pregnant," Colleen continues. "It was either going to be Murphy James or Murphy Colleen."
Shared experiences
Lawrence resident Jim Regan calls himself a fifth-generation Irish-Kansan.
"My great-great grandfather homesteaded out in Jewell County in 1871," Regan recounts. "Then, part of the family migrated back to Effingham, and I still have cousins in Atchison. But my father, Aloysius Regan, went out to southwest Kansas in the dirty '30s and that's where I grew up. Most of my siblings are still back in Garden City. I was the youngest of 11."
Being part of a large, often Catholic, family is another experience many Irish share.
"My oldest sibling is a sister, and her husband recently said that when he first walked into our house to pick my sister up for a date, he thought he'd walked into an orphanage," Regan laughs. "We were all lined up and down the stairs, you know?"
After a vacation to his forefathers' motherland, Regan came home with an idea to give Lawrence an Irish sister city.
"We went with one of my sisters and my family and had a grand time. There's just nothing like it. I've been looking for an excuse to go back ever since," Regan says.
"I guess I was a little late to the table because by the time I expressed interest in what the perimeters would be - for us to have an acceptable city in Ireland - most of the major towns were taken, so to speak."
Like the O'Malleys, the Regan clan considers St. Patrick's Day a highlight of their year.
"Over the years, the family would color most of our food products green - green beer, green mashed potatoes," Jim says. "But, anymore, we celebrate by going to the Lawrence St. Patrick's Day parade, which is always a great affair, and having corned beef and cabbage. And a Guinness or two, of course."
'Honorable people'
Luther and Esther Kelly of Eudora will celebrate this St. Patrick's Day reigning as Senior King and Queen of the Lawrence parade, cheered on by their son, Kevin Kelly, daughter, Koreen Kelly Ventura, and grandson, Kaden Kelly.
Luther says his American-Irish roots go as far back as his great-great-great grandfather who immigrated to America in time to serve in the Civil War.
"His name was Albert W. Kelly. He earned honors and is in the National Civil War Museum" Luther says proudly, then reading the citation: "'For the Civil War of 1861 in recognition for selfless devotion to duty,' etc., etc."
Kevin Kelly, Lawrence, who helped construct the first Johnny's Tavern float in the inaugural Lawrence St. Patrick's day parade in 1988 and serves on the 2010 St. Patrick's Day Parade committee, says he appreciates his forebears for their past struggles to overcome famine and strife - not to mention their ability to party.
"I just consider (the Irish) an honorable people," Kevin says. "I think a lot of it's an 'Angela's Ashes' type of thing - like coming from nothing to, well, not a whole lot, but you still have each other. They can appreciate it; they lived though poverty. My dad always tells me he got his coat from the Salvation Army when he was a boy, which is hard to appreciate when you don't really think about it. And, I enjoy the camaraderie. You can just sit down with anybody and have a pint. There's nothing better than that."
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cait48 (anonymous) says…
I am an Irish American who grew up in Kansas City. I was very involved in the parade there, whose roots are in celebrating the families of the city and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. My parents entertained in their home people who still spoke with such thick accents that, when drunk (which happened occasionally) and slurring you could barely understand them. We also knew people whose own ties to Ireland went back several generations. It was all part of being in that community. My father was employed on the Kansas City, MO fire department and then by the Union Pacific Railroad, both jobs that are classically Irish American.
Being part of that community is knowing what a "ceilidh" is, knowing not only the history of Ireland but of our own people in this country, most of them descendants of starving millions who fled to this country to avoid death from hunger. It's also being tied to the "Troubles" and knowing not just it's political causes but the real toll it took on real people. Even today, it's being part of the outrage that occurred when Bernadette Devlin McAliskey was denied entry into the US under the Bush administration.
Lawrence's St. Patrick's Day Parade sent me into a state of bemusement. It has very little to do with Ireland and even less to do with St. Patrick. I don't deny or criticize the city for it's party. It's an annual bacchanal whose real giddiness is in welcoming spring and the green people wear is as much a sign of that as it is Ireland.
But recently, in the past few years, I have taken to avoiding wearing green on St.Patrick's Day. I usually wear a black shirt with a gold harp on it. Why? Because I really am Irish. I don't have to wear green.
beatrice (anonymous) says…
I thought we weren't allowed to talk about Irish anymore.
BrianR (anonymous) says…
Well said Cait. I don't wear green either (because I'm a Dane).
George_Braziller (anonymous) says…
My maternal grandmother was extremely proud of her Irish heritage. After her graveside services we all went home to change clothes and returned to the cemetery with a bottle of Irish whiskey. Glasses were poured for everyone (including my grandmother), a toast was made, and her glass of whiskey was splashed across the vault containing her casket.
She would have loved it.
ozzynbn (anonymous) says…
My favorite day of the year. A day of fun celebration with fantastic food, a parade, and spending time with family and friends. I think Lawrence does a great job on its parade and I always enjoy the floats. Happy to see our citizens supporting this day.
cait48 (anonymous) says…
George, here's an amusing tale.
My sisters and I "waked" both of my parents. We were unable to do it in the presence of my father's body because he died in a hospital. However, my sisters and I did ring his bed and linked hands while we sang "Connemara Cradle Song" in 4 part harmony. Afterward we went to my parents house and with my mother proceeded to stay up the entire night, drinking and telling tales about my dad, laughing and crying.
My mother died at home with hospice. Just 3 days before she passed she wrote a check for $200 and told my sister to cash it. When asked what the money was to be used for my mother told her to go to the liquor store and buy the alcohol for her wake.
The night she passed we ringed her body and broke open a bottle of Bushmill's. The hospice nurse (who had never seen such a thing before) joined in with a wine cooler in hand. In turn each one of us told a story about my mother; something funny, touching, it made no difference, it was a memory important to us. After each story was told we all repeated, "I'll drink to that!" and took a hit of our shots. When we finished the, hospice nurse called the funeral home for pickup and we all went to the living room where we did the usual, staying up all night, drinking, laughing and crying.
No one handles death quite like the Irish or their children of the diaspora. I am very proud of that.