Interview with Claire Foley, 2019
Item Information
- Title:
- Interview with Claire Foley, 2019
- Description:
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE: Claire Josephine Foley, daughter of John Ward of Kilchreest, Loughrea, Co. Galway and Bridget Ward of Westmeath, was born on October 11, 1924 , and passed away on January 18, 2020. After childhood in Loughrea, and two years in Berkhamstead, England, Claire emigrated to the USA on March 14, 1948, settling with her sister, Chris, and working at Mercy Hospital. She moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1952, where she married James McAleese of Belfast, Northern Ireland. A daughter, Dorothy (Dottie), was born to the couple, but James passed away in 1958, at the time Claire was expecting their second daughter, Patrica (Pat). Claire came back to Portland, Maine, where in 1982 she married Thomas Foley, who lived until 1985. A son, Sean, was born to the new couple. Claire became involved in Irish cultural activities in Portland, including the Irish American Club and the emerging Maine Irish Heritage Center. She was among the first to organize and teach Irish language classes in Portland. Together with Bartley Folan, of An Teach Mór (Ballinteemore), and Fr. John Feeney she initiated a local summer program for Catholic and Protestant boys and girls from Belfast, Northern Ireland to share recreation and common concerns, and to overcome hostile differences. Claire was an active fundraiser, and frequently donated her handmade knitwear. In later years she enjoyed winters in San Francisco with her daughter, Pat, and visits from friends in the Gaeltacht, and her new apartment at the Motherhouse on Stevens Avenue, formerly the Sisters of Mercy (St. Joseph’s) Convent in Portland. SUMMARY: Coming to the US in 1948: Portland and Holly Street. Staying with a sister. Two Lights, Cape Elizabeth. Parents in Loughrea. Mother and maternal aunts, who moved from Westmeath. Claire one of eight sisters and three brothers. School at a two-room schoolhouse, two teachers for eight grades, a half-hour per-week for Irish language. Educational choices: fee-based middle school or going to the tech. Winning a summer language scholarship to Ros Muc (Rosmuck), Connemara. First excursion from home—the bus to Rosmuck, lodgings, the college by Pearse’s cottage. Grandparents in Loughrea who spoke Irish. Two humorous drinking songs as social criqique. Traditional dances vs. forbidden English dances. Emigration and employment. First work in the US. Irish social activity in Portland and New York City and the move to New York. New friends and recollections with Prof. Ken Nilsen. Marriage and death of husband. Back to Portland. Remarriage. The Irish language and Portland. The Maine Irish Children’s Program. Fundraising and knitting. Winters in California and friends from Ireland. Irish translations more faithful to Catholic liturgy than those into English. Changes in Portland. A volume of writings collected from Claire and her schoolmates in Loughrea: weather omens, riddles, the Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne. The choice of coming to the US for postwar emigrants: unemployment and England vs. the USA. A new apartment. Visitors in Portland and San Francisco. DNA tests at the Maine Irish Heritage Center. Some song lyrics in Irish and English, and part of a prayer in Irish. You can’t leave without a cup of tea. The Boston and the Irish Language project investigates the unique importance of Irish in forming persistent bonds among and between Connemara emigrants living in Boston with their families and communities in Ireland through recorded personal interviews. Questions explored include: upbringing through the Irish language, economic and social conditions in Ireland, reasons for emigration or return, adaptation to and participation in life within the United States, changes experienced since arrival, and current use of Irish. The project is sponsored by Cumann na Gaeilge i mBoston (The Irish Language Society of Boston), and supported by a Mass Humanities project grant and the Emigrant Support Programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland.
- Contributor:
- Foley, Claire Josephine
- Contributor:
- Concannon, Máire
- Contributor:
- Connolly, Michael
- Contributor:
- Frykenberg, Brian
- Date:
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June 15, 2019
- Format:
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Documents
Film/Video
- Location:
- University of Massachusetts Boston, Joseph P. Healey Library
- Collection (local):
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Oral History Collections
- Series:
- Boston and the Irish Language: Fifty Years of Cultural Connection in Oral History
- Subjects:
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Portland (Me.)
Kilchreest (Ireland)
Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Irish language
Gaeltacht (Ireland)
Irish Americans
Ireland--Emigration and immigration
Foley, Claire Josephine (1924-2020)
- Places:
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Ireland > County Galway (county) > Kilchreest
New York > New York > Brooklyn
Maine > Cumberland (county) > Portland
- Link to Item:
- https://openarchives.umb.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15774coll11/id/155
- Terms of Use:
-
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