Public Employee Press

DC 37 celebrates
Irish Heritage

By JANE LaTOUR

DC 37'S 20TH annual Irish Heritage Celebration March 9 combined all the elements of a great party with a meaningful cultural observance.

It included traditional food (corned beef and cabbage), traditional music by the Canny Brothers Band, traditional dancing by the O'Malley School of step dancers, greetings from union leaders and politicians, and stories about the history of the people who built the city and contributed so much to its greatness. Enhanced by the decorations of shimmering shamrocks and banners emblazoned with the images of great Irish Americans, the festivity was contagious.

Irish Heritage Committee Chair and Local 1506 President John Huber welcomed all and said the event "would never happen without Co-chair Bernadette O'Leary Enzmann and the rest of the hard-working committee." DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts noted that the Irish have contributed greatly to the labor movement and the nation. "Our union has endorsed President Obama, who had Irish grandparents, so we all have a lot in common," she said.

"My grandmother and grandfather were born in Ireland," said Mike Nooney, a Library Maintainer and Local 1321's Blue Collar Rep. "He became a city cop here and she worked in Mayor George McClellan's kitchen." Nooney attributes his oratorical skills to his Irish background.

"We have a great and proud heritage," said Emergency Medical Technician and bagpiper Chad Hannon. "The Irish worked to build this country -from the Erie Canal to the Empire State Building."

Congress member Joseph Crowley recalled the tradition of Irish labor leaders standing up for the right thing, "even when it took courage and went against the grain."

The committee honored the lifelong dedication of Father Christopher Keenan, who set up hospices and ministered to hundreds of AIDS patients in Boston and took the place of Father Mychal Judge as Fire Dept. Chaplain after Father Judge was killed in the collapsing Twin Towers on 9/11. (PEP Associate Editor Jane LaTour was also honored.)