SEATTLE IRISH NEWS - APRIL 2009 By JOHN KEANE
CONDOLENCES
To Eileen Doohan of Mountlake Terrace whose 92-year-old mother died recently in Co. Donegal.
To Kathleen O'Grady Graham, Director of the Momentum Music and Dance Academy, on the death of her father in the week preceding St. Patrick's Day.
To the family of Catherine "Katie" Balzer who died in Seattle on March 7, aged 79. Born in Great Falls, Montana, her parents were from Tipperary.
To the husband and children of Marie Borelan who died on March 13, aged 79. She was born in Northern Ireland and moved to Bellevue in 1966.
To EU Ambassador John Bruton, Seattle's St. Patrick's Day Parade Grand Marshal in 2008, whose father Joe died recently in Co. Meath just three days before he was to celebrate his 100th birthday.
 IRELAND'S ATTORNEY GENERAL Paul Gallagher was in Seattle for Irish Week 2009. He is shown above meeting the Governor in Olympia, WA. (L-R) Irish Heritage Club's John Keane; Irish Vice-Consul Barry O'Brien; Washington Governor Chris Gregoire; Ireland's Attorney General Paul Gallagher; State Senator Ed Murray; and Attorney General aide Francis Kieran. |
 AT SEATTLE'S IRISH FESTIVAL following the St. Patrick's Day parade (L-R) Kay McKenna with the Boyle Family, Sorcha (in front), Liam, Tara and Declan. Liam and Tara had just finished serving as Honorary Grand Marshals of Seattle's St. Patrick's Day parade. |
 ARCHBISHOP ALEX BRUNETT with Ireland's Attorney General Paul Gallagher at Seattle's Friends of St. Patrick Banquet in the Washington Athletic Club, Seattle. |
 IRELAND'S ATTORNEY GENERAL Paul Gallagher with U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott at Seattle's Society of the Friends of St. Patrick Banquet. |
 IRELAND'S ATTORNEY GENERAL Paul Gallagher with United States Senator Maria Cantwell and Washington State Senator Ed Murray at Seattle's Friends of St. Patrick Banquet on March 14. |
 INCOMING PRESIDENT Mike McQuaid accepts the Shillelagh from outgoing President Margaret Dore at Seattle's Society of the Friends of St. Patrick Banquet. The 150-year-old Shillelagh was brought to Seattle from Co. Wicklow in 1859 and has been the Society's symbol of office since the organization was founded in 1941. |
 AT THE MATT TALBOT DINNER, the annual fundraiser for Seattle's downtown homeless program: (L-R) Matt Talbot Center Director Gregg Alex, Board Member Kerry O'Keefe, and Ireland's Attorney General Paul Gallagher. |
 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON law students who were awarded Sampson International Law Fellowships in 2008 and 2009 met with Paul Gallagher during his visit to Seattle. The Law Fellows each work for two months in Ireland during the summer on public service law projects. The Sampson Fellowship program is named for William Sampson, an exiled United Irishmen who became an eminent attorney in the U.S. in the early 1800s. |
 AT THE ST. PATRICK'S DAY Irish seniors' luncheon in Seattle (L-R) Tim Nolan, Dennis Doohan, Pat Cox, Dorothy Cox, Anne Doohan, Jerry O'Leary and (foreground) Dan Nolan. |
2009 IRISH WEEK - We had another fantastic Irish Week in Seattle and only the rain on Parade Day marred the celebrations! While the crowd was down slightly at the Parade because of the persistent rain, overall attendance at our Irish Week events was much higher than last year.
This year, two new Irish Week events were added to the schedule and both were very well attended and well received.
Almost 150 people attended the all-day Irish Genealogy Conference, and the Seminar leader, Fintan Mullan, director of the Ulster Historical Foundation, has written to say about the Seattle seminar, "For me it was the highlight of our U.S. trip and was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had in undertaking these lecture tours in the USA."
The second new event this year was the Irish Seniors' Luncheon on St. Patrick's Day at McRory's. Despite being over-subscribed which resulted in many people having to wait in line, good humor prevailed and everybody enjoyed themselves immensely.
Over 90 Irish-born seniors were treated to lunch compliments of Seattle's Irish Immigrant Support Group and they were joined by another 60 spouses, friends and family members for what will undoubtedly now become an annual Irish Week event.
Míle Buíochas, a Thousand Thanks to all the participants and especially to all the volunteers! To view photos from the different Irish Week events, visit www.irishclub.org.
ATTORNEY GENERAL - Ireland's Attorney General Paul Gallagher was in the Seattle area for just four days during Irish Week and he participated in several Irish events, but he also made the most of his visit to the state by having business meetings with the state's leaders.
On a trip to Olympia following his arrival on March 13, he had individual meetings with Governor Chris Gregoire, Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, Leader of the Senate Lisa Brown, and Washington State's Attorney General Rob McKenna.
Lieutenant Governor Owen hosted a lunch for Attorney General Gallagher that was attended by over 30 members of the House and Senate, and he also arranged for the Attorney General to address the Senators in the Senate Chamber.
Accompanying Attorney General Gallagher to Olympia were aide Francis Kieran, Irish Vice-Consul Barry O'Brien from San Francisco, and the Irish Heritage Club's John Keane.
Sincere thanks to Senator Ed Murray who organized all the meetings in Olympia and who made sure that Attorney General Gallagher received a warm welcome to Olympia as well as to Seattle.
CONAN WATCH - Seattle's Irish Week Proclamation Luncheon at FX McRory's had a surprise drop-in guest in the form of Conan O'Brien who was in town promoting the Tonight Show on NBC - he takes over for Jay Leno on June 1.
Conan shook hands, signed autographs, posed for pictures and mugged it up for the camera before heading on his way after spending about 30 minutes at McRory's. He is no stranger to Seattle having married Seattleite Liza Powel at Seattle's St. James Cathedral in 2002.
SISTER CITY - Each year the City of Seattle holds a reception to honor all of Seattle's sister cities, including Seattle's Irish sister city of Galway. For this year's reception in Seattle City Hall at 6 PM on April 23, the Seattle Galway Association is allotted 15 tickets, and some of those tickets are still available at $15 each.
It is a great way to learn about the sister cities program, watch great ethnic entertainment, enjoy ethnic food, and meet the mayor and other city officials. Hundreds of people attend this annual event and learn about the cultures represented by Seattle's sister cities. For tickets and information, e-mail: SeattleGalway@irishclub.org or call (425) 290-7839.
MARCHING BAND - One of the bands in Seattle's St. Patrick's Day parade was The Marching Lumberjacks from Humboldt State College in California. The Marching Lumberjacks take pride in being one of the only remaining student-organized and student-run organizations in college bands today.
They don't do that marching in step stuff - at least not intentionally. They've got jugglers, dancers, kazoo players, KEG players as well as some very talented musicians. Their motto is: If you want to march, join the Army! This is college - it's supposed to be fun! We loved them in Seattle's parade and hope to have them back again!
GAELIC HEADSTONE - An Irish language scholar who viewed a photo of the old Gaelic script on that 1860s headstone in Coupeville on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, wrote to say, "This is amazing. The person who wrote this was a master of the Irish bardic tradition going right back into the middle ages. I've never seen anything like this in stone before.
"The writer/carver who made this used medieval manuscript shorthand which went out of use as the Irish finally gained ready access to the printing press in the middle of the Nineteenth Century.
"For example, ben is shorthand for 'bean' (wife). Mc with the line under the c is the old shorthand for 'Mac' (son), which gave rise to all the Mc misspellings in English.
"The line over the N is short for two Ns. The thing that sort of looks like the number 4 italicized is AR."
To see a photo of the headstone that was originally sculpted and engraved in Ireland and was erected on Whidbey Island in the 1860s, visit www.irishclub.org/headstone.htm.
HUNGER-STRIKE - Hunger is the name of a film that follows the final six weeks in the life of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands, and it will be shown April 10-16 at the Northwest Film Forum at 1515 12th Avenue in Seattle, call (206) 329-2629, www.nwfilmforum.org.
British Director Steve McQueen delivers a devastating portrait of political violence as it is inflicted and as it is felt. Though its primary subject is IRA member Bobby Sands and the 1981 hunger strike, "the film is a provocative exploration of the politics of torture and the yearning for spiritual transcendence." More information and tickets ($6-9) at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/56852.
MEMORIAL DAY MASS - An open-air Mass with hymns and other prayers in the Irish language will be celebrated at the Seattle area's Irish pioneer cemetery, St. Patrick's Cemetery in Kent, on Memorial Day, May 25.
Fathers John Madigan and Dick Ward will offer the Mass to remember in a special way all who are buried there and also all the Irish buried in cemeteries around Seattle. Established in 1880, St. Patrick's Pioneer Cemetery is located 1/2 mile east of I-5 on Orillia Rd at 204th Street, just east of Sea-Tac Airport.
It was in 1880 that the O'Connell family from Galway and Cork set aside four acres on their farm to be a cemetery for Irish families in the area. They named the cemetery for St. Patrick and in 1901 turned it over to the local Catholic Diocese, now the Archdiocese of Seattle.
When the cemetery was established, Irish was the language that the Irish-born commonly spoke among themselves. Most of the Irish-born who were buried at St. Patrick's in the early years spoke Irish, including undoubtedly all of the Irish-born Christian Brothers who are buried there.
The idea of having parts of the Memorial Day Mass in Irish will serve to honor in a special way the Irish history of the graveyard and we're hoping that Seattle's Irish community will attend in droves to honor those who came here from Ireland before us.
Providing music for the Mass will be an Irish-speaking band of musicians from Galway who will be in Seattle performing at the Memorial Weekend Folklife Festival. For more information, contact Mass@irishclub.org or call (425) 290-7839.
SUMMER EVENTS
Irish Day at the Races at Emerald Downs is June 14. Free admission tickets will be provided to anyone on our e-mail mailing list - just register your e-mail address by e-mailing: List@irishclub.org or call (206) 223-3608.
Irish Night at the Seattle Sounders is June 13 - save $5 per ticket by calling Aidan O'Callaghan at (206) 940-1113 or e-mail AidanO@irishclub.org.
Seattle's Irish Community Picnic is July 19 at St. Edward State Park in Kenmore. Free admission - contact Picnic@irishclub.org for details. Irish Night at the Seattle Mariners is August 12, vs Chicago White Sox. Reduced prices offer $20 seats for $11, $40 seats for $25, and includes a free Irish Night Mariners Cap. Visit www.mariners.com/Irish for details.
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