In this photograph taken in 1925, my mother Kathleen (far left) and her ten siblings pose with their parents, Sam and Ellen Bell, as they leave their home in Crossgar, County Down, Northern Ireland. The family immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago where, after only four years, my grandfather died, leaving Grandma Bell to raise a family of eleven children. In … [Read more...] about Photo Album: The Legacy of Grandma Bell
2008
Sive and the Ghosts of Ireland’s Past
It was Frank McCourt who first brought Sive to New York. A friend at the Irish Players, a 1950s New York theater group, now defunct, that showcased Irish classics, requested that he carry her over. And so the playwright John B. Keane traveled up to Limerick from Listowel to hand Sive over to Frank, who dutifully carried her across the water. The National players decided not … [Read more...] about Sive and the Ghosts of Ireland’s Past
The American Optimist
First we must move past the many pretenders who have rushed in to claim how much they did for the peace process in Northern Ireland. Then you will find that Bill Flynn and a precious few others stand alone as dedicated Irish Americans in that effort. For Flynn it meant he put his reputation on the line in order to help the country of his parents achieve the impossible. It was … [Read more...] about The American Optimist
A Champion of Peace in Ireland
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin, writes about the crucial role that Bill Flynn played in ending the violence in Northern Ireland. ℘℘℘ Bill Flynn is widely known in the U.S.A. as one of its foremost business leaders, as well as a patron of great causes in support of humanitarian, civil liberties and health issues. In Ireland and among Irish Americans, he is also known as … [Read more...] about A Champion of Peace in Ireland
The Quest for Peace
Bill Flynn, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and the beginnings of the Northern Ireland peace process. ℘℘℘ The setting was the Elysée Palace in Paris. The event, a gathering of Nobel laureates in January 1988. The hosts, President François Mitterand, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, and the newly established Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. The individual … [Read more...] about The Quest for Peace