The winner of the 2013 Rose of Tralee International Festival is 25-year-old Dallas, Texas native Haley O’Sullivan. Teary-eyed and overjoyed, Haley, who beat 31 other contestants from around the world on August 20 said: “Everyone was so fabulous, I can’t believe this is happening.”
An American Ireland Fund Young Leader, Haley is a 2010 graduate of the University of Arizona with an honors degree in elementary education. After teaching for one year she changed careers and now serves as a marketing coordinator for an industrial chemical company. Haley is also passionate about fitness. She is a member of Dallas’ GAA club, the Fion Mac Cumhaills, where she plays midfield on the ladies Gaelic football team.
The new Rose, whose relations hail from Longford and Cork, received a Newbridge Silverware tiara, the Rose trophy, a world travel prize worth €25,000 and a year’s driving in a brand new Kia pro_cee’d.
Haley may have won the title but New Orleans Rose Molly Molloy Gamble stole the show when, in the first ever on-stage marriage proposal the the 54-year-long festival has experienced, Kyle Catlett, 23, asked a stunned Molly for her hand. She could hardly keep her composure as her boyfriend bent down on one knee. After a repetitive chorus of “no’s” (clearly caused by shock) Molly said “yes,” to the delight of the packed dome and the half million viewers at home.
Texas Rose Rounds Up the Votes
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