By Paul Feeney, Publisher
My brother-in-law Paddy Conroy was a person I had great respect
and admiration for as I watched him grow into the great person he
became when he came to America in 1970 from a section of Ireland
known as Connemara, and most often referred to as the Gaelic
speaking region of Ireland.
History tells us that the English did everything in their power to
destroy the Irish language and were successful on many fronts. But
when they got to County Galway they were stumped. They just could
not do it. Another section where the Gaelic stood up to the pressure of
the English rulers was County Donegal. Paddy’s home in Ireland was
a place called Ros Muc and it was to this little known place in Ireland
that students came from throughout Ireland to learn and recapture the
Irish language and many of those students lived in the Conroy home.
I just finished reading a book about the people of Connemara who
came to Portland, Maine in the early 1800’s and started the
Longshoreman’s Union there. Mary Folan, a mother of ten was one of
the central characters and she was a mentor to a young woman from
Ros Muc who had lost her husband early on in their marriage. It
seemed that many of the large Gaelic speaking community in her
neighborhood thought her Gaelic was too sophisticated, way above
their own speaking and writing skills. And even back then in the 1800s
I learned from the book students were learning Gaelic in Ros Muc.
To be honest, I had never heard the name Ros Muc before I met
and married Paddy’s sister Nancy. But I soon came to know that South
Boston and Dorchester in particular were home to many immigrants
from their community. Paddy lived with myself and Nancy for a few
years before venturing off on his own. I did know the name of my
father’s birthplace in Connemara which was Cloch Mor and was I ever
surprised when Paddy’s two best friends at that time came to the
house and I got to know Sean Scanlon and Jimmy McDonough. Sean
and Jimmy came from Cloch Mor and it was very exciting to me as I
had visited Cloch Mor in 1967 and got to meet my Uncle Patch Feeney
who was frail and hunched over and who in the last years of his life
lived and was taken care of by Sean Scanlon’s mother. Paddy, Sean
and Jimmy were three peas in a pod as they loved speaking their
native language and enjoying country music Irish and American
versions.
As time went on, Paddy worked with Dick, a resident of Everett.
They became very good friends, always working hard in construction
and Dick would introduce Paddy to his niece Donna and Paddy and
Donna would soon become husband and wife.
Paddy I don’t think would ever miss a day of work. He became close
friends to Pat Walsh and his wife Nappy Feeney Walsh who at one
time lived across from my family birthplace on Crescent Ave in
Dorchester. Pat Walsh was the President of the Laborers Union Local
223 and Nappy was the real politician in their family who Irish
neighbors would approach on the street or wherever they would meet
in the neighborhood and ask could they help a son, a daughter or a
relative get into the Laborers Union.
Local 223 became known as the Irish Union and under the
leadership of Pat Walsh became one of the most politically active
unions in the country.
Pat’s nephew Marty Walsh would go on to be elected State
Representative of Dorchester, Mayor of Boston, Secretary of Labor
under President Biden and is now head of the National Hockley
League Players Association. Paddy Conroy and just about every Irish
person born in Connemara were members of the Marty Walsh
bandwagon team and they worked hard on Marty’s behalf.
As a member of Local 223 Paddy worked at the Boston Globe on
Morrissey Boulevard and everyday he had a smile on his face as he
loved seeing and knowing the many people who worked at the Globe.
As Irish as he was Paddy was always very, very interested in American
politics and government whether at the town, city, state or federal level.
Early on in his marriage Paddy and Donna moved to Chicago where
he prospered again working hard in construction. I will never forget the
wonderful road trip I made to visit them at their home in Chicago for the
christening of their first-born son PJ who would go on to become one
of Dorchester’s many great hockey players earning a scholarship to
the prestigious St. Sebastian’s School in Needham.
But also in Chcago, tragedy struck when Paddy fell down a hole
which I think was about 100 feet deep. How he survived I don’t know
but I have to think it was because of his strength being the hard worker
he was his entire life. After healing from that fall, he and Donna
returned to Boston, settled down. They had a second son Sean and
moved from St. Mark’s Parish in Dorchester to their beautiful home in
Braintree. Paddy worked 30 years as a member of Local 223.
I remember asking Pat Walsh one day did he know my father John
Feeney. “Did I know him” Pat said. “Sure it was the likes of your father
and his generation that got me my start in Boston.” That made me very
proud when Pat said that. The Irish people did help each other in ways
that led to great success in life thanks to good paying jobs.
Paddy bought a dump truck which he rented to his Irish friends and
one day I saw him on Savin Hill Avenue doing a side job removing a
very long cement sidewalk from the side of a three dicker house. I
could not believe the size of the cement blocks he was lifting up,
carrying to the dump truck and throwing it up and in to the bin. “Paddy”,
I said, “why don’t you break it up into small pieces, use the wheel
barrel” and he said that took too long and it was easier to do it his way.
Paddy was not a very tall person and he didn’t weigh very much but he
was never afraid of hard work. One day he was at my mother’s house
and my mother had filled his place with a huge portion of food. “You
don’t feed me like that” I said to my mother. “That’s not work that you
do” said my mother. Irish women like my mom knew how hard the
average Irish-born person worked doing construction
When Paddy was living with me and Nancy, I got to learn all about
Irish country music and came to love it as much as Paddy and Nancy
and all nine of the Conroys which they grew to love living in Ros Muc.
Their dad spent many months of the twenty years he worked in London
away from home but after those 20 hard years returned to Ros Muc
and built a beautiful new home. Paddy’s mom loved American
country music and the kids got to know and love the country music
stars of the 50s and 60s such as Patsy Kline and so many others as
the mother kept the radio on. I often think of Paddy as an original
Connemara Cowboy as his love for country music was so strong.
Paddy had a seriousness of purpose to his life. He didn’t come to
America to fool around or waste his time. He worked and saved and as
a result was able to accomplish so much good for himself and his
family. He loved life and lived it to the fullest enjoying his work, his
family, his friends and his community both American and Irish
communities. Before coming to America he worked and lived in
London with his dad Patrick and sister Bridget.
The obituary his family put together is really wonderful and tells the
true story of a wonderful and truly nice gentleman. Paddy was
interested in everyone and everything. I will miss him as will my five
children who he was so close to and so kind to his entire life.
Most of the people I have come to know from Connemara were in
fact just like Paddy. Hard-working, focused and wanting nothing but the
best for their families. I know they have Paddy on their mind as they
loved him as much as I did and he was truly one of their own. They will
be speaking Gaelic until the day the Lord calls them to heavenly
splendor and listening to Irish country and of course doing the jive,
which is the favorite dance of Ireland with roots in American country
and rock and roll. And today in Ireland, learning and speaking Irish is a
critical component of Irish life and indeed if you don’t speak it, you just
might get frowned upon. The language is just as important today to all
the Irish people in the old country as it has always been to the people
of Connemara and especially to the people of Ros Muc who have lost
one of their greatest native sons.
Boston City Paper
October 28, 2023 www.boscp.com