Finding Home

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Meg and Jack McGarry.

Mike McGarry came to Cleveland from County Roscommon in the 1920s. After painting streetcars and doing painting and other maintenance work at Graphite Bronze, he decided to start his own painting business. Four sons helped him build a business that would work on such important community projects as the renovations of City Hall and Severance Hall. One of those sons, Jack McGarry, and his wife Meg share memories of building a family business.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Father Thomas Mahoney.

As Fr. Thomas Mahoney recounts, the various branches of his immigrant family converged in the mid-19th century in St. Augustine Parish on what was then known as Cleveland's South Side. The parish received its first resident pastor in 1867, moving into its present location at W. 14th and Howard Streets in 1896. Fr. Mahoney's grandparents contributed a stained glass window dedicated to each of their mothers. Mahoney reflects on the role of the church as immigrant parishioners grappled with unsteady employment, the temptations of drink, and the early deaths of children.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Mary Agnes Kennedy.

As singer Mary Agnes Kennedy recalls, music and singing were a huge part of her growing up years. Her mother, Carole Anne Kennedy, played Irish music on a portable record player and made the family sit down for the Mike Comer radio hour. Music was everywhere--at family parties, school choirs and plays, television theme songs and jingles, even events on Fleet Avenue that a Polish neighbor organized. Kennedy reflects on the mentors and community influences that gave her confidence and staying power as a singer.

Finding Home will be taking a two-week pause. We'll return with a new episode on March 15th. Thanks for listening!

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Tom McManamon.

Three generations of Tom McManamons have been an integral part of Cleveland's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The current Tom’s grandfather, a City Engineer and project manager of the Irish Cultural Garden, was a leader of the Irish Civic Association, which reorganized the Parade in the early 1930s. Tom’s father, a City Sidewalk Inspector who also founded an insurance company, led another Parade reorganization in 1958 and served as the first Executive Director of the United Irish Societies. Our podcast interviewee carried on the family insurance business, served as UIS Executive Director from 2001-2004 and is the Grand Marshal of the 2022 Parade. He reflects on his family's three generations of commitment to the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with John O'Brien Sr.

John O'Brien Sr. learned to put his head down and "just work" at an early age. His father's unexpected death left his mother with a family of young children to raise and a farm and grain mill to run. O'Brien learned to pitch in, and he's never stopped. In Cleveland, he pitched in on a GAA football team that won four national titles. He pitched in as multi-term President of the West Side Irish American Club to organize the volunteer maintenance of the club's sprawling campus in Olmsted Township. He pitched in to organize another couple hundred volunteers to put on the Irish Cultural Festival every year from 1983 until the COVID pandemic hit the pause button in 2020. Whatever's next will involve more work!!!

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with John Lackey.

John Lackey grew up in County Cavan. When his mother died at a young age, his father made a plan to send the family to a cousin in Cleveland, one child at a time. John and his father left together at the end of the line. In Cleveland, John became a produce manager at the old Pick 'n Pay. He soon immersed himself in Gaelic football, dances at the Westside Irish American Club, and Friday night card games; he met his wife at a wedding and started raising a family. But among his involvements here, he says that the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association takes pride of place. He talks about a lifetime commitment that has its roots in a pledge first made in Ireland.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Vera Casey and her daughter, Kathleen Casey Proctor.

Vera Casey grew up on a farm in County Mayo, Ireland. She had to quit school early to help raise her younger siblings when her mother died. While working in London, England, as a young woman, Vera married her husband Tom Casey. They followed Vera's older sister to Cleveland, Ohio. The Caseys bounced back and forth between Galway and Cleveland frequently over the years as their family grew, creating strong connections in both cities--but they eventually settled in Cleveland for good. After many years of running her own hair salons, Vera "retired," and opened a store specializing in clothes, food, jewelry, home goods, and other items imported directly from Ireland. Casey's Irish Imports in Rocky River soon became a beloved staple of Cleveland's Irish community. Vera's daughter, Kathleen, helped out with the family business for many years before officially taking over management of the store with her sister Maureen nearly a decade ago. Kathleen and Maureen continue Vera's legacy of community building and serving. 

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Patrick Custy.

Patrick Custy's immigrant parents met and married in New York, but returned to Ireland with their young family to work the family's farm after Patrick's grandfather died. Growing up in Dysert O'Dea outside of Ennis in County Clare, Patrick was surrounded by distinctive ruins from all time periods in Irish history. He grew up playing traditional Irish music and sports. He met his wife-to-be Nikki, an Ohio native, when both were college students in Galway. Marriage, three children, and jobs in the computer industry have anchored the couple in northeast Ohio where they have become well-known musicians, and are active in the revival of Gaelic hurling in Akron.

In season two of the "Finding Home" podcast series, Irish American Archives Society Executive Director Margaret Lynch interviews an array of Clevelanders with specialized knowledge and stories about the history of the Irish in Cleveland. This episode features an interview with Helen Malloy.

Longtime West Side Irish American Club President Pat Lynch tapped Helen Malloy to serve as assistant to the Club secretary when Malloy was little more than a teenager in the late 1950s or early 1960s. She's been an office or board member with the West Side club ever since. As one of the Club's few American-born Presidents--and the only woman--Malloy presided over the preparation to move from the Club's old quarters at West 98th and Madison to a new, purpose-built facility in Olmsted Township. Malloy shares her memories of growing up in and with the West Side Club.