St. Paddy’s Week
off to a merry startIT'S St. Patrick's Day Week, but if you're Irish you already know it takes at least a week of celebrating to satiate those hardy folks whose roots come from the Old Sod. It began Saturday morning when Don Murphy put on an Irish breakfast to benefit the Guide Dogs for the Blind program. Aside from the scrambled eggs, corned beef hash, Irish bacon and three different kind of sausages (made by that Irish-Italian Tony Spadaro) a lot of money was raised for a good cause. One woman there said, "I ate more meat today than I have in the past year!" ... That same evening was the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick's annual Emerald Ball at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. There'll be celebrations all over town on the day itself, Wednesday, not the least of which will be Kimo "Knuckles" McVay's one day a year gig at the keyboard at the Columbia Inn. He'll play from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., after which a real pro, Don Conover, takes over until 6:30 p.m. with Irish sing-alongs reminiscent of what he offered at the old Rose & Crown for 16 years. There'll be lyric sheets for those who'd like to join in but don't know the words to "Danny Boy" etc. ...
True luck of the Irish
TWO 100 percent Irish Americans have a special reason to celebrate this St. Paddy's Day. In town from snowy Chicago to visit their daughter and son-in-law are the John Gills. The two, who've been married for 47 years, are also celebrating their 75th and 70th birthdays. They're ready to party, and for a good reason. It was 11 years ago, on March 17, that Mrs. Gill, after nine pain-filled years of kidney dialysis, received a kidney transplant. Gill had been watching his wife's life ebbing away, and now the two vow to raise a glass of green beer to the man whose kidney was transplanted after his death. Says Gill, "If our story encourages one person to sign an organ donor card, we will have a true reason to celebrate on what we consider the luckiest day of our life, March 17." ...THEN there's Jim Murphy, whose article about St. Patrick's Day in Hawaii ran in the Boston Globe. After reading an item here about his story, Murphy adds he'd made a vow, like Douglas MacArthur, that he would return to Hawaii. He'd only seen the isles once, and that from cracks in the wall of a warehouse where his unit was forced to stay until they shipped out to Korea. "They wouldn't let us out to tour the city," reports Murphy. "It seems the previous troop ship was minus some young troopers when the ship pulled out." But thanks to his daughter Nina now living in Honolulu, the Murphys were able to fulfill that vow made years ago ...
Worldwide readership
AFTER reading the item here about Sean Chang Connelly and his St. Patrick's Day doings in Pennsylvania, Patrick Bullard was happy to see Connelly used the Star-Bulletin on the Internet to get isle updates. The two were classmates at St. Louis High in 1981, and as president of that class, Bullard realized he'd found the perfect way to reach classmates for reunion updates ... And checking in via e-mail was Jack Zalewski, who also read the Connelly comments. Zalewski is a Chaminade grad, a former HPD officer and DEA agent in Honolulu. He writes, "Wanted you to know the column is read far beyond the mainland by other island exiles." Zalewski keeps up on isle happenings through the Star-Bulletin online from his DEA office in the Hague, Netherlands ... Always glad to be of service. Especially during St. Patrick's Day Week ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.