| Stars of the South 
Alison Brown
Alison Brown has taken an unlikely path in establishing herself as an
internationally recognized banjoist. The former investment banker (she
has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and an MBA from UCLA) toured
with Alison Krauss and Union Station and Michelle Shocked before forming
her own group, The Alison Brown Quartet. She has recorded eight critically
acclaimed solo albums including the Grammy-winning Fair Weather (2000
Best Country Instrumental Performance). Alison has been
featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s All Things Considered and
in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Alison, together with her husband Garry West, co-founded the internationally
recognized independent label Compass Records in 1995 to create an artist-friendly
home for roots music and musicians. In a recent feature story, Billboard
magazine called Compass “one of the greatest independent labels
to emerge in the last decade.” In 2006, Compass Records Group acquired
the 30-year- old Green Linnet label, becoming the largest label for Irish
and Celtic music in the U.S.
Alison’s Irish roots extend back to her paternal great-grandfather,
Robert Brown, who emigrated from Ulster with his parents in 1880. Rumor
has it that the family originated in County Roscommon but little more
than that is known, except that her great-grandfather is said to have
enjoyed his beer warm. Alison currently resides in Nashville with her
husband Garry and their two children Hannah (5) and Brendan (6 months).
.
 J.
Rhodes Haverty, MD
As the founding dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia
State University, J. Rhodes Haverty, MD, launched the first university-based
program in physical therapy and medical technology in Atlanta, including
degree programs in nursing, nutrition, mental health, and respiratory
therapy. Under his innovative leadership, the college grew to become one
of the largest and most well-respected producers of health care professionals
in Georgia.
Dr. Haverty received an AB degree from Princeton University in 1948 and
his medical degree in 1953 from the Medical College of Georgia. After
completing his residency, he became a highly regarded pediatrician, practicing
in Atlanta for 11 years.
Although he retired in 1991, Dr. Haverty is actively engaged in community
life, serving on boards and garnering awards for his tireless service.
He is past chairman of the Georgia Health Foundation and currently serves
on its board. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the
American Red Cross and the Board of Advisors of the College of Health
and Human Sciences.
Dr. Haverty was cited as Top Volunteer in 1998 by the American Red Cross
for his three plus decades of advocacy and community service. In 1998,
he received the City of Hope Award for his contributions as a physician
and community leader. In honor of his exemplary service to the College
of Health and Human Sciences, the college launched an annual lecture series
in his name that features speakers of national and international prominence.
Georgia State University further recognized Dr. Haverty by bestowing upon
him an honorary doctorate of philosophy.
 Sister
Jane Gerety
Sister Jane Gerety, RSM, Ph.D., a Sister of Mercy since 1959, serves
as the senior vice president for sponsorship and is the corporate compliance
officer at Saint Joseph’s Hospital Health System in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sr. Jane joined Saint Joseph’s in 1992 and is responsible for ensuring
that the hospital fulfills its mission to the Atlanta community by providing
compassionate, clinically excellent health care to all, no matter their
ability to pay. Her responsibilities include overseeing corporate compliance,
mission effectiveness, and care of the poor.
Under Sr. Jane’s leadership, Saint Joseph’s was one of the
first hospitals to establish a Center for Ethics in Health Care. She has
also has been instrumental in the successful development of the Saint
Joseph’s Research Institute, which is engaged in finding new treatments
and moving those treatments through pre-clinical and clinical research
in a timely fashion, so that they get to patients faster.
Prior to joining Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Sr. Jane was the Associate
Professor of English and Academic Dean at Carlow College in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. She previously taught high school students English, French
and Spanish. Her dedication to education extends beyond teaching; while
in Pittsburgh, Sr. Jane established a highly successful baccalaureate
program for poor women in the Pittsburgh Hill District.
Sr. Jane earned her B.A. degree in French from Mt. St. Agnes College in
Baltimore, a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College in
Middlebury, Vermont; and a master’s and a Ph.D. in English from
the University of Michigan.
Sr. Jane has served on numerous not- for-profit boards including a stint
as Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, Salve Regina University, Newport,
Rhode Island. She has also served as the Chair of several other organizations
including, St. John’s Mercy Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri; Mercy
Housing Southeast; Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Atlanta; Saint Joseph’s
Health System, Saint Joseph’s Mercy Foundation and Saint Joseph’s
Research Institute, Atlanta; MedShare International, Atlanta, and Mercy
Medical, Daphne, Alabama.
A frequent guest speaker and author on the mission of Catholic health
care, governance, compliance, and health-care reform, Sr. Jane also speaks
on such topics as poetry and meditation, especially women poets and W.B.
Yeats. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on “Poetry and Magic:
Yeats’ Poems of Meditation,” and her love of poetry is evident
in her prayers and inspirations when she speaks to audiences.
Sr. Jane’s Irish heritage is something that she is very proud to
claim. Her mother’s family immigrated to the United States from
County Mayo, while her father’s family hailed from County Meath.
Sr. Jane also has another connection to Ireland: her order, the Religious
Sisters of Mercy, was founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland,
in 1831.
 Mary
Ann McGrath Swaim
From Warrenpoint, County Down, Hugh Byrne left for the port of New Orleans
in antebellum times, when the “Crescent City” ranked second
only to New York as the largest port in all the United States. By the
time he arrived, reports confirm that one in every four New Orleanian
had been born in Ireland. Making their homes off Tchoupitoulas, along
the famous “Sliver on the River,” Hugh and his brothers joined
the ranks of many fellow Irishmen in the treacherous life of a riverfront
screwman. And they earned the way they made.
Hugh Byrne married Mary Kenny, whose Irish family had emigrated first
to southern Kentucky, and then down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
From Killarney, Co. Kerry, Dennis McGrath left for America in earlier
antebellum times, landing in New York and continuing on to Wisconsin in
search of land. Making their home in Highland, Dennis and his family became
farmers. And they earned the way they made.
Dennis McGrath married Mary Smith, whose family had emigrated from Co.
Tipperary.
In yet another antebellum time – just months before Pearl Harbor
– Dennis and Mary McGrath’s great-grandson, John, left Wisconsin
for the Port of New Orleans, on personal invitation from Uncle Sam. Here,
on our famous Canal Street in 1942, quiet Master Sergeant John McGrath
met and fell in love with Hugh and Mary Byrne’s beautifully shy
granddaughter, Isabella Byrne.
And so to Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, a Southern Irishwoman, who counts herself
blessed to have been born in New Orleans because of the courageous wanderlust,
and the laboring love, of her tribe. Mary Ann was the first of four children
born to John and Isabella McGrath – Mary Ann, Glen, Marci, and Adrian.
As she sees it, her story is not exceptional – nothing to compare
with the monumental life achievements of those who came before her, who
risked everything to venture across the ocean and across the land to find
a home for themselves in the “Land of Dreams” – and
to earn the way they made.
Dance was Mary Ann’s life’s goal, but early injuries forced
her to look elsewhere. So, with cum laudes, Woodrow Wilsons, and such
behind her, she became a lawyer, married her law professor – the
incomparable “Louisiana Swaim” – mothered three exceptionally
unique people – Clancy, Shannon, and Bill, and is now grandmother
to two
darling dolls – Sarah and Claire.
Mary Ann practiced law and returned for her MS in Counseling just before
Hurricane Katrina changed everything. Just after she thought that Katrina
had changed everything, she lost her life’s love – her “Professor
Swaim.”
In between – always – Mary Ann searched for stories of her
Irish past, only to be reminded by her Nana that “you’re an
American” and “there are no castles in Ireland.”
“Nana was right and she wasn’t,” Mary Ann says, “but
her message ‘Work, Live, Breathe, Here, Now’ was the same
truth that Dennis and Mary McGrath and Hugh and Mary Byrne obviously knew.”
Still, Mary Ann fears she compromised the practice and even home sometimes,
to follow a dream – the re-homing of Irish Dance in New Orleans.
She became the first Louisianian, and so also the first New Orleanian,
licensed by An Coimisiún le Rinci Gaelechá as an Irish dance
teacher. In those times, she reveled at marrying Mardi Gras to feiseanna,
with beads and medals meshing under strains of Irish tunes and Mardi Gras
Indian chants. “Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me.”
In her time she served as the first president of the Ladies AOH, Margaret
Haughey Division, New Orleans; first Dance Chair for the Irish Cultural
Society of New Orleans; member of the first Board of The New Orleans Friends
of Ireland; the first New Orleanian traveler in search of a New Orleans
Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann tour stop; a first officer of Southern Regions
IDTANA (Irish Dance Championships); “Godmother” to O’Flaherty’s
Irish Channel Pub; and member of boards of many other Irish organizations.
Post Katrina, Mary Ann remains an active member of the Board of The Advocacy
Center of Louisiana (http://www.advocacyla.org/), an organization whose
mission it is to ensure that children with disabilities are able to live,
study and play in loving environments that help them meet their full potential.
 Richard
W. Riley
The Christian Science Monitor said that many Americans regard Dick Riley
as “one of the great statesmen of education in this [20th] century.”
David Broder, columnist for The Washington Post, called him one of the
“most decent and honorable people in public life.” And when
Riley was Governor, he was so popular that the people amended the South
Carolina Constitution to enable him to run for a second term.
Wherever he goes, Richard Wilson Riley – former U. S. Secretary
of Education and former Governor of South Carolina – wins respect
for his integrity, principled leadership, commitment to children and passion
for education.
After winning national recognition for his successful education improvements
in South Carolina during the 1980s, Riley was chosen by President Clinton
in December 1992 to serve as the nation’s chief education officer.
During the President’s first term, Secretary Riley helped launch
historic initiatives to raise academic standards; improve instruction
for the poor and disadvantaged; expand grant and loan programs to help
more Americans go to college; prepare young people for the world of work;
and improve teaching. He also created the Partnership for Family Involvement
in Education, which today includes more than 8,000 groups.
Riley gets things done by reaching out to all citizens. He prefers partnership
to partisanship. Of his quiet, self-effacing style, the National Journal
wrote, “He doesn’t grab headlines or clamor for credit . .
. But, inevitably, Riley reaches his goal.”
Riley was so successful that, after the 1996 election, President Clinton
asked him to continue leading his national crusade for excellence in education.
During the second term, Secretary Riley helped win a historic F.C.C. ruling
to give schools and libraries deep discounts for Internet access and telecommunications
services (the E-rate) and major improvements in the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act. He gained increased federal support to help children master
the basics of reading and math; make schools safer; reduce class size
by hiring 100,000 more quality teachers; modernize and build new schools;
help students learn to use computers; expand after-school programs; foster
college preparation and access for underprivileged students; and promote
lifelong learning. Riley also focused national attention on the need for
people of all ages to learn more than one language and for increased international
education exchanges in the U.S. and abroad, in order to take advantage
of the opportunities presented in the global society of the 21st century.
Since leaving his national post in January 2001, Riley has rejoined the
law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough with more than 300
attorneys in offices throughout South Carolina and North Carolina, as
well as in Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C.
Dick Riley also has been appointed Distinguished Professor and Trustee
at his alma mater, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, and
serves as Advisory Board Chair of the Richard W. Riley Institute of Government,
Politics and Public Leadership there. Additionally, Riley serves on the
boards of South Carolina’s University Center in Greenville and Winthrop
University, where the School of Education is named in his honor, and he
has been named Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina.
He also speaks, provides leadership and serves in an advisory and collaborative
capacity with many other entities to promote education improvement at
all levels in the U.S. and abroad.
Dick Riley was born in Greenville County, South Carolina. He graduated
cum laude from Furman University in 1954 and then served as an officer
aboard a U.S. Navy minesweeper. In 1959, Riley received a law degree from
the University of South Carolina. He served as a South Carolina state
representative and state senator from 1963-1977, was elected Governor
in 1978 and reelected in 1982. Riley is married to the former Ann Osteen
Yarborough, affectionately known to all as Tunky Riley. The couple recently
celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Lake Tahoe with their four
children and 13 grandchildren.
Dick, like so many of the Riley clan, traces his roots to County Cavan.
His mother is a Dowling, so he has Irish heritage on both sides and he
takes that heritage seriously. He is involved in Co-operation Ireland,
which promoted inter-community partnerships in Northern Ireland, and is
on the board of the Irish-American Higher Education Research Organization
(IA-HERO) founded by George Mason University, Virginia, and the Higher
Education Authority, Ireland. IA-HERO brings together educators on both
sides of the Atlantic to discuss important topics and examine challenges
to education in both countries.
Gene McHugh
Gene McHugh, VP/General Manager of WAGA/Fox5 Atlanta, one of the nation’s
highest-rated FOX Affiliates, was born in Montclair, New Jersey and raised
in St. Louis, Missouri.
A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Gene worked
in advertising and broadcasting in Missouri, New York City, Chicago, Washington,
DC, and Atlanta, and has been employed by Fox Television Stations, Inc.
since November 1993.
Gene, who served as a lieutenant in the U.S Navy Reserves, is actively
involved in community projects. He serves on the Atlanta Ronald McDonald
Houses Executive Committee, Board of Directors; and is a board member
of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, USMC-R Toys For Tots Atlanta
Campaign, and the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Foundation
Gene’s Irish roots are in County Roscommon. At the tender age of
17, his grandfather Michael McHugh left the 15-acre family farm located
near the River Shannon in Roosky, and sailed on the steamer Teutonic from
Queenstown, arriving at Ellis Island, April 15, 1897. After securing employment,
he sent for his bride, Catherine Healy, who was born on an adjacent farm.
The couple had six children, including Gene’s father, Paul. Michael
became a U.S. citizen on October 13, 1902 and achieved rank of captain
on the Montclair police force.
Gene says it was “Irish luck” that he married Deborah Ann
Vivod. The couple have three grown children, Erin, Megan and Michael,
and two grandchildren, Tommy Wood and Phoebe Eddings.
Kieran Quinlan
Born in Dublin where he attended the O’Connell Schools in North
Richmond Street, Kieran Quinlan is Professor of English at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham, specializing in modern American and Irish literature
with an emphasis on writers from the American South.
He is the author of three books: John Crowe Ransom’s Secular Faith
(1989), Walker Percy, The Last Catholic Novelist (1996), and Strange Kin:
Ireland and the American South (2005), which won the Landry Award for
the best book in Southern studies from LSU Press.
In reviewing Strange Kin: Ireland and the American South, James Flannery,
the Winship Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Emory University,
wrote “As it unfolds, Quinlan’s story of the strange kinship
between Ireland and the American South begins to take on increasing layers
of paradox and contradiction combined with heroic strength and moments
of moral revelation. . . . As Quinlan observes in the final sentence of
his wonderfully wise meditation on the peculiar connectedness of those
two remarkably distinctive peoples of the earth: ‘The past does
not fade gently into the present, and the future remains largely unknown.’
But, as our great artists have tried to show us, a better future may lie
in accepting.”
Dr. Quinlan has also published essays on W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Seamus
Heaney, and Donald Davie in such journals as The Southern Review, The
Kenyon Review, and World Literature Today. His current interests
include a memoir on his time in Ireland, England, and the American South,
and a study of Seamus Heaney and religion. He teaches undergraduate and
graduate classes in 20th-century literature, and also a course on Literature
and Religion. He directs the Haddin Humanities Forum and has given numerous
talks to a variety of public and academic groups.
|
