The O'Malley family is (from left) Kevin, daughter Murphy and Colleen, with dogs Charlie (left) and Cooper. The family is from Lawrence.

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.

“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.”