Both of my parents were born in County Kerry, Ireland, and met after emigrating to the United States in the 1950s. They each arrived in 1949 and were married in 1958.
Proud of his Kerry roots, my father joined the Kerry Association of New York in 1951, where he remained an active member throughout his life. For forty-two consecutive years, he proudly carried the Irish flag for the Kerry Association in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, continuing the tradition until the age of eighty. In 1993, his son succeeded him in this honor and has carried the flag every year since.
My mother was born in a beautiful town along the Ring of Kerry and became the first in her family to emigrate to America at the age of twenty-one. Departing from Cobh, County Cork, she made the voyage by ship and began her life in New York City working as a waitress on Fifth Avenue at the well-known restaurant Schrafft’s.
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