The 2011 Feis Honoree will be former Feis Chairman Edward F. Friel.

In 1964 Eddie Friel joined Division #5 in Queens County, NY.  His father Frank Friel and his uncle John Bownes were members of this division in Far Rockaway, NY.  His mother Margaret Friel was also a member of what was then called the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

As time went by Division #5 disbanded and years later Ed transferred and became an active member of Division #3 of Nassau County.  Eddie has held most elected offices in this division.  That includes Sentinel, Standing Committee, Recording Secretary, Vice President and President.  Numerous times he chaired the St. Patrick’s Celebration and golf outings.  He was chosen Hibernian of the Year in 1992.  In time Eddie became active with the Nassau County Board, again holding most of the elected positions with 2 terms as Vice-President and President.  Eddie chaired the Nassau County Ball and other events for the County.  He was the Chairman of the Nassau County AOH Feis for a total of 7 years and is still an active Feis worker. He was also elected New York State Director District #6.

Eddie was chosen as an Aid to the Grand Marshal in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1996 and is currently a delegate to the Parade Committee representing Division #3. He was also chosen Aid to the Grand Marshal of the Glen Cove St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2000.

Eddie is on the Board of Directors of the Irish Americans in Government.  This is a charitable organization that supports Irish causes. He is also a member of the Easter Monday Monument Committee that is responsible for the refurbishment of the monument and the Easter Monday Commemoration located in Mineola, NY. Eddie is also a member of the Irish American Society of Nassau County.

Eddie is a member of St. Mary’s Morris Stella Council of the Knights of Columbus and is a Fourth Degree Member of the Steven Moylan General Assembly.

Eddie and his wife Nina reside in Westbury and are active members of St. Brigid Parish.  They have 3 married children. Christine (Tim),  Frank Lauren) Eddie (Amy)  and a granddaughter Kyla.  His son Eddie is a member of the Tara Pipes & Drums of Division#15 in Massapequa.

About the band (taken from their website)

The Sporting Paddies play a wide variety of classic Irish rebel and drinking songs, ballads, originals, and lively trad tunes, all peppered with the occasional American song done in the singular Sporting Paddies’ way!

Among the band’s highlights are playing the NYPD Transit Bureau Emerald Society’s St. Patrick’s Day ball at Webster Hall in NYC, the FDNY Emerald Society’s annual fundraising boat cruise, and The FDNY Pipe Band’s Christmas and post St. Patrick’s Day Parade parties. Additionally, several of the band’s songs have been featured on Ceol na nGael on WFUV 90.7FM, Fordham University radio.

Please note, the schedule will be up a week before the feis.

Originally founded in Brooklyn over 50 years ago, Molloy College has grown steadily since its foundation by the Dominican Sisters of Amityville. Thanks to the encouragement and support of Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy, Bishop of Brooklyn, the Sisters welcomed their first class of forty-four freshmen in 1955. The College was originally chartered as Molloy Catholic College for Women.

For directions to the campus click here.

“He was a dedicated member of the order,” said fellow National Life Member Michael O’Rourke. “He was very active with the Feis, and helped build the stages. He was a worker.”

John joined Division 5 in Far Rockaway back in 1957 and later transferred to Division 3 in the Five Towns. Over the years he held many positions in the Order, including serving as Assistant National Freedom for All Ireland Chair back in the late in 1970s. He also held a few state appointed positions.

In 1972, John was appointed first chairman of the Feis.

In 2002, John was awarded with National Lifetime Membership for his service to the Order and continued to be active with the division and county up until his accident.

He is survived by his nephew former Nassau County President and State Director Ed Friel, three daughters and four grandchildren.

John will be waked this week at Fullerton’s Funeral Home in Baldwin, NY. We will post more information as it comes in.

Paddy was born in Ballyphehane, Cork City, into a family of seven boys and two girls.  Like most Irish families of the time, the McCarthys lived a happy life, in humble conditions.   On leaving school, Paddy tried his hand at several occupations, including shoe manufacturing and working for CIE on the Cork docks.

In the era of the show band and thronged dance halls, like Enniskeane’s Lilac and Cork City’s Arcadia Ballroom, Paddy was energized by the buzz and excitement of it all.  By age 17, he was a professional drummer playing with various bands, including his mainstay “Sunset”.  Within a short time, the Ballyphehane boy was promoting concerts around Ireland. The Chieftains, Dire Straits, Clannad and Loudon Wainwright III were just some of the well known groups in his portfolio.

By the early 1980s, the Irish economy had sunk into dire recession.  Unemployment was in the double digits. The City by the Lee was devastated.  Old mainstays of Cork’s work force such as Ford’s, Dunlop’s, Sunbeam and other entities were crumbling, as the economy acclimatized to the harsh criteria of European Community membership.

Like many of his contemporaries, Paddy set out on the well trodden emigrant path to the United States.  By 1982, he had begun his New York career working as a bartender, behind the sticks on Second Avenue. It was around this time that the Ballyphehane boy came under the wing of one of the godfathers of the Cork community, in New York, Joe Murphy a native of Cullen.  Within a short time Paddy had been press ganged into the, then, County Corkmen’s Association, at its headquarters, on 58^th St., in Woodside.  The two Rebels have remained close collaborators ever since.

In 1988, Paddy joined the Irish Voice newspaper, eventually becoming advertising director. In the early 1990s, he left the Irish Voice to open his own bar, the thriving Nevada Smith’s in Manhattan.  Always one to simultaneously juggle many balls, Paddy also took on the position of advertising director in World of Hibernia Magazine.  In 2000, Paddy, along with other business associates, launched the prestigious Irish Connections magazine, which continues to provoke and inspire.  In 2006, the boy from Ballyphehane,  launched  yet another publication, a weekly Irish American newspaper, the Irish Examiner.

Paddy is married to Patricia, who hails from East Meadow, Long Island.  They are the proud parents of Christina, who is a graduate of Manhattan College, and son James, who attends Nassau Community College in Garden City, Long Island.

Paddy is a perfect encapsulation of the legendary Irish immigrant wit, initiative and perseverance.   James Joyce once described the necessary qualifications for an Irishman to succeed as being “silence, cunning and exile”.  In the case of Paddy, we could debate about the first qualification, but there is no doubt about the other two.  No matter how much success he enjoys, Paddy will always regard himself, first and foremost, as just a “Cork boy”, proud of his native city and county, even though as he says himself, his “feet are now firmly planted here in the United States”.

The County Cork Association wishes Paddy, Patricia and all the McCarthy clan much good fortune and prosperity in the future.