I am of Pete Hamill’s generation. His “Our Jack” article has reminded me why I loved Jack Kennedy. I’m 100 percent Irish, I’m proud to say, or as Irish as my DNA tests showed! Pete’s article took me back to my Irish Catholic mother, who decided on July 4th, 1960, that we would as a family go to the park in New Jersey where Jack Kennedy was campaigning.
I was a teenager at that point, and wasn’t really that interested in politics, so my siblings and cousins and I went to play on the park’s swings! Then, in September 1963, I entered the convent of an Irish order of nuns. One morning, we were all called into our community room and told by sobbing nuns that President Kennedy had been shot and died of his wounds. Of course, we all cried for days. And the nuns suspended all our classes for several days and left the TV on so we could watch what happened afterwards. We watched his funeral and suffered with Jackie Kennedy and her two little kids, who were now without a husband and father, and were homeless to boot!
I totally share Pete’s love of JFK! He was imperfect, as he said, but when I look at what has happened since and most recently to the office of the President, I feel that he was such a hero to us Irish people. Pete captured him perfectly. Thank you for reminding me of him in this elegant way!
– Kathleen de Blois
Tribute to First Nations of Quebec
Wonderful story. Thank you, Irish America, for making the past present and inspiring with this story about how the First Nations helped out the Irish during the Great Hunger.
– Mary Pat Kelly
Kevin Roche: America’s Irish Architect
I continue to enjoy reading your Weekly Newsletter. I especially enjoyed your recollection of Kevin Roche by Sheila Langan.
Through his association with Eero Saarinen, Kevin met J. Irwin Miller, a mentor of mine from whom I learned so much. They worked together on the creation of many structures for Cummins Inc., for the Miller family, and for Columbus, Indiana. As a result, I met Kevin and watched closely as he worked and the creative genius he brought to projects, particularly in Columbus, and Jamshedpur, India, in the early and mid-90s. Thank you for bringing back great memories. – Joe Loughrey
Pat Conroy: The Prince of Tides
What a great interview by Patricia Harty. My Aunt Katherine of Charlestown, Mayo, remarked after hearing one of my ‘stories’. “Thanks be to God that two percent of us are listeners, or the other 98 percent, mind you, would go stark raving mad.”
Dúirt m’athair liom uair amháin gurbh Éireannach an-dona an duine is measa ar domhan. D’fhiafraigh mé de, “Cén fáth?” Dúirt sé, “Mar tá a fhios acu níos fearr.”
(My father once told me that the worst person in the world was a very bad Irishman. I asked him, “Why?” He said, “Because they know better.”)
– Seamus Casey
Redeeming Bing
I loved this article. Thanks for championing Bing Crosby’s legacy! It’s a crying shame that you only hear him now at Christmas time singing “White Christmas!”
– Kathleen de Blois
My grandmother loved Bing Crosby, and I grew up loving his voice, too. Great article by Bob Lydon!
– Marian Wernicke
Let Art and History Rhyme
Museum reopening appeal to Quinnipiac University’s new president.
For more than a decade, Quinnipiac University collected, preserved, and shared the world’s knowledge of Ireland’s Great Hunger in an award-winning museum alongside their campus on Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut. The museum was part of a distinguished academic and artistic hub at the university that promoted a deeper understanding of the past and present. To borrow from poet Seamus Heaney, Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum was a sacred place where art and history rhymed.
In August 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university announced the permanent closing of the museum. Working with local advocates— including federal and state representatives, students, and faculty—our group, Ireland’s Great Hunger Bord, formed to request reconsideration of the closing and to advocate against dismantling the collection. Thanks to the intervention of Connecticut’s Attorney General, the collection remains intact. However, the museum building is shuttered.
Five years after the closing and following a recent meeting with the university’s new president, Marie Hardin, we regret to report on the continuing impasse between Quinnipiac University and our Bord. We challenge President Hardin’s stated determination that the collection should be transferred to a paper-only entity in the Town of Fairfield. Although well-intentioned, that group faces many challenges—financial and related to securing an appropriate venue—before an agreement can be completed. The group has been unable to meet a single deadline in the Memorandum of Understanding between them and the university (released by the Office of the Connecticut Attorney General, April 2025).
Our Bord continues to press Quinnipiac to reopen the museum. There has been no positive movement since 2018, when the collection toured Ireland at three venues and was seen by over 100,000 viewers. In the meantime, the greatest international collection of art devoted to Ireland’s Great Hunger languishes in boxes, unseen, and in questionably appropriate storage facilities.
During this impasse Quinnipiac continues to incur expenses for storage, consultants, and shipping the collection to various venues with the Fairfield group, while the opportunity to display the collection in the award-winning building designed to house it lies empty.
In a statement on September 22, 2025, U.S. Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro, in whose district Quinnipiac University is located, said: “With the future of this collection still at stake, I am asking for Quinnipiac to consider reopening the museum in its former location on Whitney Avenue, to provide resources to pursue philanthropic support, and to review the financial proposal offered by Ireland’s Great Hunger Bord to assist with making the museum a self-sustaining institution.”
We stand ready to explore a win-win resolution of all matters related to Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum with Quinnipiac and all interested parties. We respectfully ask the Board of Trustees to reopen the museum so it can become, through artistic and scholarly excellence, a beacon of hope for current immigrants, especially refugees. Quinnipiac can and should follow the tradition of the world’s great universities as a leader in this important social justice narrative.
Our Bord believes that opening the museum can be done with a modest budget, utilizing faculty, docents and other volunteers while building fundraising capacity for the museum’s long-term success. Join our efforts to let art and history rhyme once again.
– Ireland’s Great Hunger Board (bord an gorta mór) www.IGHBord.org
CORRECTION:
Armagh Catholic Cathedral Needs Your Help
The contact information that we supplied in our Fall issue was incorrect. Visit the story online at Irishamerica.com for information on how to donate, or email armaghparishoffice@gmail.com.
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