The Kelly Crest

Message Forum
Allows visitors to find information, ask questions, or add comments about Ireland.
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Chat Room
Open 24/7

Links:

My pictorial tour of Ireland
(with tips for the traveler)

My Irish music
Traditional and pub songs

My Navy Career

Other Places I've Been

  I have included some other links that you might find interesting though I don't attest to their currency.

Bloody Sunday

Easter Rising 1916

Irish Abroad

Irish Arts and Music

Irish literature, mythology, folklore, and drama

Irish Musicians

Irish Recipes

Irish Sayings

Irish Storyteller

The Kelly Family

The McLaughlins of Donegal

The Wild Geese...Erin's Far-flung Exiles

May those who know us, love us.....

And if they don't love us,
May God turn their hearts,....

And if He can't turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles....

So we can know them by their limp

Click to view my book page

Click to view my upcoming book page

Weather Forecast

Annual Events by Month

Message Forum
Allows visitors to find information, ask questions, or add comments about Ireland.
Click to enter

Trip of a Lifetime!
 A chronicle of my motorcycle trip with two friends across the US and back.
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The web page for Brian Kelly

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I am a retired naval officer and a retired civil service employee.  My son, Brian, lives with his wife, Trenna, in Hagerstown, MD with our first grandchild, Camryn Brooke, born 12 March 2003 and our first grandson, Bryce Patrick, who joined the clan on 13 July 2005.  Landon Blake is the newest addition, having joined the clan in April 2008.  In December 2005,  I moved to Martinsburg, West Virginia to be closer to family. Martinsburg is about 20 minutes from Hagerstown.

My daughter, Lorine, who began her career as a Neo-natal Respiratory Therapist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, now works as a Neo-natal Intensive Care nurse at Northern Virginia Hospital in Alexandria.  On 4 June 2005, Lorine married Chris Hawthorne of Scottish descent in a fantastic Celtic ceremony. The two live in Springfield, VA.  Lorine gave birth to a baby girl, Brianna Lorine, on 24 October 2006 and had the first St Patrick's Day baby in the history of our family, Cassandra, on March 17, 2009.

I am 100% American-Irish having descended from the Kelly and McLaughlin families. We think my father's parents came from Co. Cork in the 18th century, but trying to trace a Kelly is like trying to box up fog.  Lots of luck!!  My maternal grandparents came from Co. Donegal in the late 1890s and I am in the process of charting the McLaughlin ancestry. Unfortunately, my grandparents came to America during the period when the Irish were the target of widespread discrimination and "Irish Need Not Apply" was the catchphrase of the times.  If you were Irish Catholic, you were doubly damned. When they bought their first house in Philadelphia, the neighbors said "I hope you're not Irish. We have too many of "them" as it is."  So my grandfather lied.  Consequently, my maternal grandparents discarded most of their Irish heritage in order to become "Americanized."  

If you've ever wanted to experience Ireland, I have traveled there numerous times and recently have decided to offer my services as an unpaid tour guide.  If you are interested, click on the icon below:

I was born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1943 but we moved shortly thereafter to Brooklyn, NY.  My Dad worked in Manhattan as a commercial artist, drawing men's fashions for the print media before they changed to photography .  I was raised in Brooklyn until 1955 when the family moved to rural Bucks County, PA.   At the time, I thought I'd fallen off the edge of the earth but I grew to love Bucks County and still return frequently.  Besides, there was no sense going back to Brooklyn - they tore down Ebbitt's Field and moved my beloved Dodgers to Los Angeles.  No Brooklyn Dodgers?  What a sacrilege!!

I graduated from Palisades High School in Kintnersville, PA, in 1961 and went on to Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, MD.  Upon graduating from "The Mount" in 1965, I became a science teacher at Unami Jr. High School in Chalfont, PA, and that was where I met Phoebe.  Phoebe was born at Ft Jackson, SC, and had traveled with her family.  Her father, Harry, was in the Army and, later, the National Guard.  She went to Central Bucks High School in Doylestown, PA, and graduated from Lock Haven University (then a State College).  In 1968, I left teaching to join the Navy.   Phoebe finished the 1968-69 school year at Unami and joined me in Pensacola. FL.  The rest, as they say, is history!

In my effort to learn more about my heritage, a number of years ago I stumbled into an AOL Chat Room in the UK Members section called Galway Bay. This room was populated mostly with Irish (living both there and here) and Irish-Americans. The craic was brilliant and I've made many lasting friends there.  Since then, I've left AOL but I still get together with the friends I made there as often as I can. I understand the room no longer exists...a shame because it was a good chat room.  I have created a Chat Room on this site which can be accessed 24/7. It is a public room and everyone is welcome. Click here or use the link from the menu on the left. I look forward to meeting you.

I have been to Ireland 11 times as of 2008 on visits lasting from two weeks to seven weeks.  I have provided a lot of information in the message forum based upon the experience gained during those trips.

I ride a Can Am POW*MIA themed Spyder and will be making a three week almost 7,000 mile trip in May 2010 with some other Spyder riders from Missouri to California on Route 66, then up the coast to Monterey. From there to Las Vegas NV, Salt Lake City UT, the Grand Tetons/Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  to Cheyenne WY, Denver CO, and back to Missouri.

              

 

Awards this site has won

The Book of "Kel's"
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