JFK PDX
PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT 21 May 2026
More than an email. Less than a newspaper. Weekly newsletter of the Portland Hibernian Society. Delivered every Thursday.
JFK in Coos Bay, OR, May 1960. Photo courtesy of Parade Magazine.
PHS MEETING TONIGHT - 21 MAY 2026 - Seven P.M.- Kells Restaurant - 112 SW Second Ave. When JFK Went "Home" to Ireland. Presentation by Hibernian Pat Casey. Dinner at Six P.M. (No host). Presentation and discussion after dinner. Free dessert. JFK Trivia too.
When JFK Went "Home" To Ireland
In May of 1963, President Kennedy was preparing for his trip to his ancestral homeland: Ireland. Here's some background from our presenter Hibernian Pat Casey: JFK was proud of his Irish heritage but was also, paradoxically, something of an Anglophile. His advisors were leery of any foreign travel in June 1963 -- civil rights issues were coming to a head and they felt going overseas might look like he was shirking his domestic duties... there were no compelling US-Irish foreign policy issues at the time and Ireland was not part of NATO. In the end he made it clear he wanted to visit Ireland, regardless of other foreign policy concerns.
JFK in OR 66 years ago this week
Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy (D. Mass.) knew he had to win the Oregon Democratic Primary on May 20, 1960 to have any hope of winning his party’s Presidential nomination that year. So, he came to Oregon early and he came often. Here’s the story of his Oregon effort.
President Connolly’s very eventful visit to England
The President of Ireland made her first trip to England earlier this week (May 18). She met King Charles and invited him to visit Ireland. He accepted.Then this.... Ireland’s president on Monday said she was “very proud” of her sister, who earlier in the day was detained by Israeli forces while sailing to Gaza as part of an aid convoy. Margaret Connolly, a general practitioner in the town of Sligo in Ireland’s northwest, was among at least six Irish... detained when Israeli troops boarded her vessel on Monday, reported Politico Europe. The King’s visit to Ireland will be an historic second. Charles’ late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2011 became the only reigning British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since its 1922 independence.
Gresham man goes on crime spree in Kenmare, Co. Kerry - “Something happened, something snapped in him in the last few days.”
It’s a mystery what prompted Rodney Menolascina of Gresham, Oregon to slash wool, tear upholstery and scratch a car in the town of Kenmare, Co Kerry, while on a “dream holiday” with his wife and friends,reports the Irish Independent. Menolascina (59) was released from custody on May 19, his U.S. passport was returned and he flew back to PDX. But not before paying $54,500 (47,00 euros) for damage done. “We genuinely don’t know what happened here with this man,” Garda Sergeant Stephen O’Brien said. He plead guilty to charges that included tearing up $30,000 worth of clothing at Quinn’s Woolen Mart on Main Street in Kenmare. "...no criminal record...no use of intoxicants and no suggestion of a confrontation," the sergeant said.“It must have been frightening for the people working there,” Judge David Waters said.
Cheap lamp shines light on Highland Stillhouse Pub
Cynics will say it must have been a slow news day for the Oregonian to run a story about a Scottish pub in Oregon City on the front page last Sunday. (“Highland Stillhouse Pub - How a stolen $7 lamp became Oregon City’s newest celebrity “) Be that as it may, the Highland Stillhouse Pub deserves the publicity. It’s one of Greater Portland’s finest Celtic public houses. “A true public house is where community meets,” said founder Mick Secor, who "bought antique tables, fixtures and wall decor in Scotland, Wales and Ireland and had them shipped to the United States" when he set up business back in 2006. Thus the authentic decor. Check it out at 201 S. Second Street in Oregon City.
Pierce Brosnan and the “Irish Western” never made
“A bunch of us Irish fellows keep saying we should get together and make a western - myself, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Colm Meaney and people like that. We'd just like to do an Irish film about the West.” Brosnan turned 73 last week (May 15), never having made the movie that could have been called Once Upon a Time in the West of Ireland. Click here for a look at his career and five of his films worth watching.
Tina Kellegher and Colm Meaney having a father-daughter moment in The Snapper.
SNAPPER HAS SNAPPER
You have to be a fan of, or at least familiar with, the Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle to appreciate this story. The Snapper is one of the three novels set in Dublin in the 1990s. In it, Sharon gets pregnant, refuses to name the father and carries her baby (The Snapper) to term. They made a movie and in it a real live tiny baby is born in the final act. So, here’s the story:The woman who played The Snapper baby just had a baby of her own. Alannagh McMullan was one of two babies who played the part of Georgina Curley in the film more than three decades ago. She welcomed her second child, a son named Jamie, this week. “The weekend I had my first baby, The Snapper was on TV and then again, this Friday, it was on TV. This little man arrived, so it’s obviously my good luck charm.” Dublin Live.The other two books in the Trilogy are The Commitments and The Van, both also made into fine movies.
From the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.
PHS MEMBERSHIP - IF IT'S TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP, YOU CAN BRING YOUR CHECKBOOK OR CREDIT CARD AND SETTLE UP WITH TIM HENNESSY TONGHT. This only applies to those who received reminders about paying in May. The rest of you will be reminded about our affordable dues on the anniversary of when you last paid. If you’re not a member but would like to support the PDX Hibernian Independent, Please CLICK HERE. It’s a mere $35 yearly. OR bring your dues to the meeting next Thursday and talk to Tim Hennessy. A membership in the Portland Hibernian Society comes with your subscription. And vice versa.