February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
But a crowd noticeably bigger than seen at the installation event in recent years spread its praise generously beyond the new man in the grand marshal’s sash.
Kelleher, of course, was warmly greeted. But the most emotional crowd response of the evening came in a standing ovation for the Fighting 69th Regiment, currently posted in Iraq where it has lost more than a dozen men in combat. There was appreciation, too, for James Barker, longtime executive secretary of the parade who died last October.
The emotional pitch in the room was maintained over a two-hour period in which tribute was paid to the past and commitments made to the future of an event that will this year mark its 244th consecutive celebration of Irish heritage in New York and across the United States.
Kelleher, in an eloquent acceptance speech, lauded the March 17 parade as being one of the city’s most festive and anticipated annual celebrations. He, in turn, was praised from a dais that included the outgoing grand marshal, Tommy Gleason, and Cardinal Edward Egan, who led the 2002 parade up Fifth Avenue.
Kelleher, who emigrated from County Kerry and became a top Wall Street executive, was described by Irish Consul General Eugene Hutchinson as an exceptional grand marshal, a man who combined business acumen, high integrity and a moral compass.
Gleason, who led the 2004 parade, was one of a number of speakers who paid tribute to Jim Barker. The program for the evening included a photograph of Barker and the dedication “In Loving Memory.” Gleason said that he owed thanks to Barker for becoming involved in the parade in the first place.
Parade committee chairman John Dunleavy described Barker as a modern-day P.T. Barnum. “I only realize now the extent of the work that he did for the parade,” he said. “He was marvelous. He had a big heart and he opened so many doors in this town to the parade. I miss him very, very much.”
Dunleavy told the delegates, who had gathered in the Roosevelt Hotel that beginning this year the trophy presented annually to the best marching unit in the parade would be named after Barker.
The announcement was enthusiastically greeted as was the fact that the absent 69th would be honored by the parade in several ways on March 17.
“Our hearts will be with them,” Dunleavy said of the unit.
The 200-strong 69th rear guard will, however, be on hand to lead the parade as will members of the regiment’s veterans corps.
When the rear guard commander, Captain Rafael Santiago, was introduced, the entire room stood and erupted into the evening’s most sustained applause.
Chairman Dunleavy made particular note of the fact that the 69th now included members and units from other states under its flag.
In his acceptance speech, Kelleher, who is himself a U.S. Army veteran, said that being grand marshal of the New York parade was “just about the nicest thing that could happen to a person from the old country.”
Kelleher spoke of the parade being today just one of many in cities around the world. But the New York parade was, he said, “the diamond of the fleet.” And it took place annually in a city made great by “Irish workers and dreamers, vision and sweat.”
Kelleher paid tribute to his own family: his wife, Carol, and his children and grandchildren. He also acknowledged chairman Dunleavy, calling him an “outstanding friend” and a man owed a great debt of gratitude by Irish America.
Kelleher, as did so many other during the evening, praised Jim Barker. “This was a man,” he said in a concluding line from a passage he drew from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
The parade, which is being dedicated to the United States, will step out on Thursday, March 17.