February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Olivia Tracey
"My parents must have been psychic," announced the current International Rose of Tralee, Roisin Ryan Egenton, referring to her name as the Irish translation of the English Rose.
Indeed, not only is she a christened and crowned Rose, but, judging by her looks, charm and talent, also a born Rose.
With the Tralee Festival just around the corner, it was a lucky coincidence for us to meet in Dublin’s rendezvous central, the Shelbourne Hotel, just after the Festival Press lunch at Dublin Airport that morning.
Despite her early a.m. flight from Galway, where she now lives, the lovely lass was effervescent with energy, looking . . . well . . . as fresh as a rose in full bloom.
It seems like life in Ireland is truly agreeing with the New Jersey-reared New York Rose who took the International title last August in Tralee. Even from her days at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, she harbored the intention to spend at least one year in Ireland. With her father, Michael Egenton, a native of Oldcastle, Co. Meath, and her mother, Katherine Ryan, from the Limerick-Tipperary border at Doon, it was simply Roisin’s plan to spend time with her Irish cousins and get more closely acquainted with her ancestral home. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to savor her stint in Ireland as the reigning International Rose of Tralee.
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"I’ve probably seen more of Ireland than most people living here," she said brightly as she tucked into her deliciously healthy chicken salad. Her Rose duties have brought her to every county in Ireland except Derry, and she remembers driving her prize Hyundai from Galway to Enniskillen down to Waterford and back to Galway in one weekend to attend a series of gala balls in each venue.
The highlights of her term as International Rose include an exciting trip to Los Angeles for the Saint Patrick’s Day parade and the Southern California Rose of Tralee Ball, and a recent six-week tour of Australia, visiting a host of Rose centers including Darwin, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
She has also enjoyed giving her time generously to various charities, most especially the Alzheimers Society, as her maternal grandfather suffered with the disease. She even initiated her own table quiz as a fund-raiser in Galway. I suspect that we shouldn’t be surprised if we spot her pretty face on our TV3 screens in the future.
Indeed, while she acknowledges the thrills of her position, the Rose Committee declare in return their mutual appreciation of her. The Committee CEO and International Rose 1986, Noreen Cassidy, applauds Roisin for doing a "fantastic job, for understanding the art of promoting Ireland as a tourism destination, for promoting the American interest in Ireland and for personifying an elegant yet modern outlook on life."
Ms. Ryan Egenton is undoubtedly bright and ambitious, and for a 24 year-old, wise and full of initiative. She even managed to secure herself a flexi job with the Join Ireland firm, working on her laptop from home between Rose appointments.
She is of course a gifted musician herself, having begun studying violin when only three-years-old. She went regularly to Manhattan for lessons and, from the age of sixteen, she was spending seven weeks each year at Music Camp, doing five hours practice per day.
Music will always be only a hobby for Roisin as she considers herself much more corporately inclined. Now that her year in Ireland is approaching an end, she has decided to stay, with future plans involving a move to Dublin to work from Join Ireland’s Ballsbridge office. Sounds like this young lady has fallen in love with the Emerald Isle despite the weather and the coffee.
But of course she has found an answer to that too — Lancome self-tanner and Barry’s Tea.