Irish America magazine - Oct/Nov '08 issue: The Legacy of the San Patricios Lives On , Stars of the South, The Legal 100, Roots: The Mighty Mahers, All Hail The Humble Spud! , Music: Still Fiddlin’ Away , The Real Bill , The Battle over Ulysses, Broadway's Irish Colleen

Stars of the South

A Celebration of the Irish in the Southern United States

In this special feature we pay tribute to the Irish in the Southern United States.
The honorees profiled in the following pages will be feted at our third annual Stars of the South dinner in Atlanta on October 18, 2008.

Kevin Conboy is a dual citizen of the United States and the Republic of Ireland, and president of the Atlanta chapter of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. In that capacity, he led a trade mission to Ireland and Northern Ireland in June 2007 with Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. He works with a number of Irish clients, as well as U.S. clients doing business in Ireland.

A senior partner in the international law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walter LLP, Kevin began his career as a law clerk for Marvin H. Shoob, U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. He was born in Amityville, New York, the oldest of seven, and attended Catholic schools in the New York area including Regis High School in New York City. He received his B.A. in religious studies with a minor in philosophy from LeMoyne College in 1974 and received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1979. In law school, he was active in the International Law Society (spending a summer in Brussels at a European Economic Community seminar and at the Hague Academy of International Law), and with the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, where he served as lead Notes Editor and published two Notes of his own. He also served as a research assistant to Gabriel Wilner, Kirbo Professor of International Law, and to the Rusk Center for International and Comparative Law. He is a member of the Atlanta and International Bar Associations and was admitted to the bar in the State of Georgia.

Kevin also served for two years as deputy headmaster and teacher at a secondary school in rural Kenya, East Africa. He is actively involved in various community service organizations, and serves as a trustee for Southern Catholic College. He is on the advisory board for the Dean Rusk Center for International Law at the University of Georgia’s Lumpkin School of Law, and is active with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Kevin lives in Georgia with his wife of 32 years, Maureen, who he met during orientation week at LeMoyne College. They have three daughters, Meghan, Allison, and Colleen. He is the interim president as well as serving on the board and as general counsel for the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit group that works with the Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Parade and raises funds for children’s charities.

In 2006, James Kelly received Irish music’s highest honor, the Gradam Ceoil TG4 2006 Irish Musician of the Year Award (TG4 is Ireland’s Irish-language TV station). One of the best Irish traditional fiddlers alive today, he learned his music from his father, John Kelly, the renowned fiddle and concertina player from County Clare.

James won first place in the prestigious Fiddler of the Year competition in Ireland at just age sixteen and soon afterwards recorded his first album, a duet with his brother John. He went on to join the group Ceoltoiri Leigheann (Leinster Musicians), which included his father, and such stellar musicians as Paddy O’Brien, Mary Bergin and Paddy Glackin, and recorded two albums with the group before emigrating to America in 1978.

As a solo artist and a member of such influential groups as Kinvara, Bowhand, Patrick Street and the legendary folk group Plansty, James soon became widely known in the U.S. even as he continued to tour in Europe, Canada and South America. He was was a presenter of the Pure Drop series for Irish television, appeared with The Chieftains, recorded with The Bee Gees and was a regular guest on Garrison Keillor’s national radio show A Prairie Home Companion.

With 18 albums to his credit, including his recently released third solo CD, Melodic Journeys, James, who currently resides in Miami, also teaches the fiddle to students all over the world via the internet and holds regular workshops in U.S., Canada and Europe. He continues to play concerts and festivals with some of Irish music’s leading accompanists, and is a regular at all the major American music festivals, including the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Milwaukee Irish Festival. In recent years he received the Florida Folk Heritage Award as well as the Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Folk Arts Award.

The son of a farmer and cattleman, Donald Keough was born in a small town in Iowa. When the Depression hit, Keough’s father lost most of his money in the cattle market, and when the house on the farm property accidentally burned down the family moved to Sioux City, where Keough’s father struggled to start over again. Of this time, Keough says, “It must have been devastating for him, but he never showed it. He was a great role model for me.”

The young Keough enlisted in the Navy and after serving two years went to Creighton University on the G.I. Bill. He began his career in television and radio, and moved on to marketing for a food company, which was acquired by Coca-Cola in 1964. And thus began a career that culminated in Keough’s being named president of Coca-Cola in 1974.

Keough, who resides in Atlanta, stepped down from his position at Coca-Cola in 1993, having served as president, chief operating officer, and director of the worldwide Coca-Cola Company, but continues to serve as an adviser to the board. He is currently the chairman of Allen & Company, an investment banking firm in New York.

Throughout his steady rise up the corporate ladder, Keough’s pride in his Irish heritage remained constant. And after a career in corporate America he turned to a venture of a different kind – investing in Irish Studies.

In 1993, with an endowment of $2.5 million he established the Keough Institute of Irish Studies at Notre Dame, and the Keough Notre Dame Centre in Dublin, Ireland. “Notre Dame didn’t have any type of academic Irish studies program. It just seemed like a natural fit to me,” Keough said at the time. Today, over 400 students are part of Notre Dame’s Irish Studies Program.

Keough is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Horatio Alger Award and the Notre Dame Laetare Medal. In June, 2007, he was granted Irish citizenship, something he celebrated by taking his wife Mickie, his children and grandchildren on a trip to Ireland.

In July of this year, Keough wrote his first book, The Ten Commandments for Business Failure, where he uses his sixty years of business experience to highlight the challenges and obstacles faced in business. As Jack Welch said of the book, “A must for every leader.”

When Haley Kilpatrick was 15 years old and dealing with the pressures of being a teenager, she founded Girl Talk at her school in Albany, Georgia. “It’s an organization that develops leadership skills in high school girls by allowing them to mentor middle school girls,” Kilpatrick told Nicole Lapin when she was on CNN’s Young People Who Rock last year. From humble beginnings in her school, the nonprofit organization now reaches young women in 24 states, with international chapters in Canada, the Virgin Islands and Africa, helping over 30,000 girls deal with the stress and strain of growing up.

The 21-year-old, a Kennesaw State University graduate with a degree in communication, travels extensively around the country spreading the word about Girl Talk and motivating youth, teachers and administrators on the importance of mentoring. The organization’s mission is to help young teenage girls build self-esteem, develop leadership skills, and recognize the value of community service through weekly mentoring meetings.

Apart from CNN, Kilpatrick has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Montel, and TBS. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2007 Southeastern United States of the NSDAR Community Service Award, an annual award given to a native-born American citizen for outstanding contributions to their part of the country. She was also honored with the President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Community Service Award from Atlanta’s NBC affiliate 11-Alive. She is a spokesperson for American Eagle and appeared on billboards nationally for their Live Your Life Spring 2006 campaign. CosmoGIRL! magazine named her as their 2004 Cosmo­GIRL! of the Year and she has appeared on Jezebel magazine’s list of Atlanta’s 50 Most Beautiful People, as well as receiving a $10,000 Maybelline New York scholarship.

As busy as she is with Girl Talk, Kilpatrick has also found time to be Albany’s Volunteer of the Year, United Way’s Southwest Chapter’s Volunteer of the Year, and Miss Teen Albany. Kilpatrick, of Scots-Irish descent, tells us of her family’s heritage, “Between 1717 and the American Revolution, about 250,000 Scots-Irish came to the New World, but Kilpatricks have been in this country for a longer time than that – at least 330 years, in fact.”

Dr. Thomas Lawley was appointed dean of Emory’s School of Medicine in 1996. He is president of the Emory Medical Care Foundation and the Children’s Research Center, and he is on the board of the Emory Children’s Center. He also serves on the boards of The Emory Clinic and Emory Healthcare, and has written more than 200 book chapters, research articles, and abstracts, and is on the editorial boards of several journals.

The son of a policeman, Dr. Lawley was born in Buffalo, New York, graduated magna cum laude from Canisius College and received his M.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He trained in dermatology at Yale University, and at the National Institutes of Health, where he began as a clinical associate and became a senior investigator. Board certified in dermatology and in dermatological immunology, he came to Emory’s School of Medicine as chair of the Department of Dermatology in 1988 and increased the then-unranked department’s national rating to third place.

Dr. Lawley has received numerous academic prizes and is a member of several honorary medical societies, including the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Professors.

Mike McGovern has devoted a considerable part of his career to finding ways to improve children’s health. One project he is involved with is I4Learning, a company which trains teachers to teach interactive programs dealing with the science of nutrition, exercise and tobacco as part of schools’ science curriculum. This enables children to learn and experience the science and habits of a healthy lifestyle, which is the greatest prevention against Type 2 diabetes, tobacco addiction and the adverse medical consequences associated with each.

To further this cause Mike co-founded The Institute for America’s Health in 2003. This is a public foundation whose mission “is to inspire, motivate, and educate youth to make healthy lifestyle choices.” Another important goal in Mike’s life is the search for a better way to deliver insulin to people who have acquired diabetes. He is a founding investor in and director of the pharmaceutical company CPEX, with the primary goal of obtaining regulatory approval for the nasal delivery of insulin. CPEX is currently undertaking Phase II clinical trials. Before turning his attention to children’s health issues, Mike had a successful career in tax consultancy and investment.

Mike was born in Dublin to parents who both hailed from County Cavan. A strong work ethic was incubated at an early age when Mike started doing chores during extended visits to his grandparents’ farm.

Praised for being industrious in these tasks, he decided to try working for himself when his family moved to New Jersey during the summer before he started the sixth grade. Mike bought a used bicycle and worked his own paper route for the Jersey Journal until he finished grammar school. He enjoyed all the traditional American sports during his school years, but also found time to work as a stock boy in a local grocery store and as a caddy at Englewood Country Club.

On graduating Don Bosco High School, Mike enlisted in the Army. After his tour of duty was over, he enrolled at the University of Illinois, where he received his B.S. and M.A.S. in accounting as well as his law degree. Today, he and his wife, Elizabeth reside in Sandy Springs with their two children, Isabella and Michael, Jr. Isabella is a graduate student at the University of Chicago and Michael attends The Paideia School. For the last four years, Mike has been serving on the Ireland-America Economic Advisory Board to the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) of Ireland.

As a prosecutor in Arlington County, member of the General Assembly, and leader in the Virginia Democratic Party, Brian J. Moran has focused on education, opportunity, protecting children and creating a better life for the next generation. He is the chairman of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus and a delegate representing Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria, and is currently campaigning as a 2009 Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia.

The youngest of seven in an Irish middle-class family, Brian worked to put himself through college and law school at Catholic University. His grandparents came to America from County Mayo with nothing more than a single suitcase only to face signs of “Irish Need Not Apply.” The Moran homestead in Carrowkeel, Mayo still exists and is home to the members of the family still in Ireland.

In 1995, Brian ran for the House of Delegates and was elected to represent Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria where he has worked to curb drunk driving, improve Virginia’s small business climate, crack down on Internet child sex predators, and improve preventative health care. House Democrats elected him as the House Democratic Caucus Chair in 2001. In that role, he has led efforts to expand the Democratic Caucus, resulting in the largest Democratic gains in the Virginia House in over a generation. After September 11, Governor Mark Warner appointed him to the Secure Virginia Panel, dealing with issues of homeland security in the Commonwealth.

Brian was also a member of Governor Tim Kaine’s 2007 Health Care Reform Task Force and has been a long-time member of the Advisory Board of Stop Child Abuse Now, and has been a member of his local Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis club, and Alexandria Bar Association. He has received numerous accolades, including legislative awards from the Victims and Witnesses of Crime, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association and Our Military Kids. He also received the prestigious Tech Ten Award from the Northern Virginia Technology Council and was named the Virginia Jaycees Man of the Year.

Brian and wife Karyn have two children.

Mary O’Connor is the Director of Outreach for the Center for the Study of the Presidency in Washington, D.C., an organization designed to study the successes and failures of the past presidents and apply these studies to current presidential endeavors. Mary became involved in politics while attending Trinity College in Washington, D.C. While earning her bachelor’s degree in political science, she served as president of the Young Democrats. This early leadership in the political arena helped build the foundation for her future career, which has included time as Georgia Finance Chair for the Elizabeth Dole for President campaign and the Dole for Senate 2002 leadership team.

An advocate for America’s youth, Mary served a two-year term as national president of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation, Inc., a non-profit foundation that, since 1958, has awarded scholarships to U.S citizen-scholars in the fields of science, engineering and medicine. She currently serves on the ARCS Foundation advisory board.

While living in Atlanta she founded Mary B. O’Connor and Associates, a community relations firm that provides clients with a structured contributions strategy and targeted leadership roles in communities in the Southeast. She also served as executive vice president of SciTrek, the Science and Technology Museum of Atlanta.

Mary, who has received numerous honors, served on the board of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta Foundation. She was the vice president of the Junior League of Atlanta, and has been inducted into the YWCA of Greater Atlanta’s Academy of Women Achievers. She was named Woman of the Year by the Atlanta Women’s Commerce Club, and has also been recognized with the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service and the WXIA-TV Atlanta Community Service Award.

Both sets of Mary’s family emigrated from Ireland. Her paternal grandfather, Thomas P. Bagley, was born in the Parish of Ballinacourty, County Kerry, and arrived in America in 1882. Her maternal grandfather, Thomas Hannigan, left Drimoleague, County Cork, in the late 1800s at the age of 18. When asked why he left Ireland for America, he responded: “Because America needed us.” Of this spirit Mary, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, says, “That confidence continues to trickle down through generations, culminating in my terrific opportunity to serve as Attaché from the Republic of Ireland for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. That experience brought my Irish heritage to full circle!”

Mary King Rose Taylor is the founder of the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The turn-of-the-century Tudor revival home was built in 1899 by an Irish Catholic, Cornelius Sheehan. It was converted into a 10-unit apartment building in the late teens and in 1926 became the home of Margaret Mitchell (whose parents were Scots-Irish and Irish Catholic) and her husband John Marsh. It was there that the famed author wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gone With the Wind.

Mary, herself has a background in writing, which she brings to her role with the Mitchell House. She has over 20 years experience in broadcast journalism. Having begun her career with 60 Minutes, she went on to research, direct and produce documentaries for CBS, BBC, and PBS. After working as assignment editor for Metromedia in NYC and Post-Newsweek in Washington, D. C., she moved to Atlanta in 1980 to become a news anchor for the NBC affiliate, WXIA-TV.

Mary soon settled in to Atlanta and in addition to being a former Chairman of the board for the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, she is a founding member of the Atlanta Auxiliary of the Alzheimer’s Association and serves on the Board of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Board of Visitors for the University of Georgia Libraries.

Taylor was married to the late C. McKenzie (Mack) Taylor, the former Chairman of Taylor & Mathis, commercial real estate developers. She has two stepchildren and four step grandchildren. She was previously married to PBS’ Charlie Rose.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Mary, the oldest of five children, born to the late Dr. Walter Gorringe King of Binghampton, New York, and Marylynn Eusterman of Rochester, Minnesota. She recently learned that her late grandfather, Christopher Evan King, an immigrant from the British West Indies, actually descended from Scots-Irish ancestoy.

D. Reece Williams, whose ancestors were part of the Irish migration from Ulster to America in the first half of the 1700s, is a partner at Callison Tighe & Robinson, LLC, in Columbia, South Carolina, and a member of the American and South Carolina Bar Associations and former president of the Richland County Bar Association.

His forefathers moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina where they settled in the up-country, lands occupied by the Catawba Indians and birthplace of Andrew Jackson, also of Irish descent. “Like most of these Irish, they mistrusted government – particularly English government – were independent, accustomed to hardship and prone to violence. These qualities contributed to the American Revolution; some say these Irish fomented the Revolution. My ancestors served the patriot cause and remained in the up-country of South Carolina, proud of their Irish heritage, and helped to establish the character of the region and of the new America,” says Williams of his Irish roots.

Williams earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1960 and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1964. In 1989, he was elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates, an organization whose membership is restricted to lawyers who have completed at least 50 jury trials. He has been a national director since 1989, national secretary 1991-1993, recipient of its Masters in Trial award in 1995, founder and trustee of its allied foundation, and has formerly served as its national secretary, national vice-president, national president-elect, and national president at various times.

He is a member of the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, Defense Trial Lawyers Association, American Judicature Society, and the International Society of Barristers. He received the University of South Carolina James Petigru Compleat Lawyer award for professional excellence in 2001, and has been a legal education speaker in over 50 trial demonstrations in more than 30 states, and has authored articles for several legal publications.

A past board member of The Workshop Theatre, Columbia Ballet, Kitani Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, The Red Cross, and The S. C. Aquarium Commission, Williams is the present chairman of the U.S.C. School of Public Health Partnership Board, past chairman and present life member of the Salvation Army Board, past chairman of the Columbia Housing Board, present life member of Columbia Art Association and member of The Columbia Museum Board of Visitors, and a former vestryman and canvass chairman of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. He is an organizational board member of the S.C. Chamber Orchestra and is a board member of the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra.