West Haven St. Patrick’s Day Celebration 2022 скачать в хорошем качестве

West Haven St. Patrick’s Day Celebration 2022

Keith Sweeney said it was worth the wait. After a two-year pause because of the coronavirus, Sweeney, who was named West Haven’s Irishman of the Year in 2020, finally received his honor on St. Patrick’s Day 2022. With Mayor Nancy R. Rossi looking on, Sweeney, a decorated former police officer, unveiled a Kelly green street sign designating the Campbell Avenue side of City Hall as “Keith M. Sweeney Square” for the next year at West Haven’s 29th annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration on Thursday, March 17. Sweeney, whose grandparents hailed from the counties of Roscommon and Offaly, Ireland, was presented with gifts of appreciation, including an embroidered “Irishman of the Year” jacket, and words of praise from Rossi for “sharing and preserving the culture of Ireland and the teachings of St. Patrick, personifying the qualities of an Irish Westie and the values of an American Catholic.” In addition to Rossi reading a proclamation citing Sweeney’s dedication to the Irish American community, the ceremony featured the hanging of the street sign outside City Hall’s Campbell Avenue entrance naming the public square for the honoree until next year’s celebration, when he will pass his title to a fellow person of Irish ancestry. At the start of the 35-minute program, Joan D. Connor, the 2019 recipient, received her rectangular sign to take home. Connor is now the longest-serving honoree in event history because of the twice-postponed celebration. The West Haven St. Patrick’s Day Committee each year recognizes an Irish resident or couple who exemplifies service in the city’s rich Irish American community. As the sound of Celtic music played by bagpipers and drummers filled the air during the cultural event in honor of Ireland’s patron saint, Sweeney, 68, toasted his lineage with dozens of his closest friends and loved ones, along with a sea of shamrock-clad dignitaries, including police and fire officials, and descendants of folks from Erin. In the 1890s, Sweeney’s grandparents left the Emerald Isle in search of the American promise, settling in West Haven. The youngest of five brothers, Sweeney grew up in a single-family home on Lake Avenue overlooking Lake Phipps. He attended city schools and graduated from West Haven High in 1972. At the midday ceremony, Rossi also presented an Irish flag to Sweeney, who was accompanied in the front row by daughter Erin Sweeney, of West Haven. Just a few rows behind, Bruce E. Sweeney, a long-standing member of the First Fire Taxation District’s Board of Fire Commissioners, looked on with pride as his brother was feted. Keith Sweeney, a lifelong Westie, was also joined by former wife Kathleen Johnson, of West Haven. Daughter Shannon Sweeney and granddaughters Etta Aylwin Seely, 3, and Nellie Kate Seely, 1, all of Concord, Massachusetts, were unable to attend. Among those attending the event were 2022 Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal Seamus Bohan, of Orange, and 2022 Parade Queen Morgan Daley, of Hamden, and her honor attendant, Megan Burke, also of Hamden. The opening procession was led by the West Haven Police Honor Guard and the New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes & Drums. After 2013 Parade Queen Fiona Stewart, of West Hartford, sang beautiful renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Irish national anthem, “Soldier’s Song,” the Rev. Mark R. Jette, the 2010 Irishman of the Year, offered an Irish blessing and shared a few funny stories about his adventures with Sweeney in Ireland. The invocation was followed by remarks by 2014 Irishwoman of the Year and state Rep. Dorinda Keenan Borer, D-West Haven, who served as the master of ceremonies and greeted the gathering before presenting Sweeney with a General Assembly citation on behalf of the city’s delegation. Rossi then delivered remarks lauding Sweeney. The program culminated in an emotionally charged performance of “Amazing Grace” by the emerald society’s array of bagpipers and drummers, who dedicated the rendition to Sweeney. The society also serenaded Erin Sweeney, whose birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day, by playing a surprise birthday ditty. Keith Sweeney is a member of the West Haven Irish American Club and was its Irishman of the Year in 1989. He is a former member of the Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. Sweeney, a longtime member of the St. Patrick’s Day Committee, has participated in many wearin’-of-the-green celebrations in his hometown by leading dignitaries in the opening procession and presenting the colors as a member of the West Haven Police Emerald Society. Sweeney is best known for his career as a West Haven police officer and detective. He served on the department for 11 years, starting in 1979, and was the recipient of several commendations. Sweeney received the department’s Purple Heart and Medal of Valor for gallantry in the line of duty while responding to an August 1988 mutual aid incident in which he suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg.