By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, and here’s hoping you’ll appreciate me sharing a “stew” of Irish-laden tidbits passing through my Irish-ancestry mind as we approach March 17.
Let’s start with praising an Irishman who came to Kentucky and grew an amazing business, called Alltech, creating jobs and spurring others to seek new ways of doing things. Dr. Pearse Lyons, an Irish scientist, immigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in the 1970s from Ireland. He had a dream, according to the Alltech website: “to sustain our planet and all things living on it.”
The goal of Lyons was to “apply his yeast fermentation expertise to animal nutrition challenges,” and in 1980, Alltech was founded with an investment of only $10,000. Today, more than 6000 people are part of “this vision of sustaining and nourishing the world’s plants, animals and people.”
Alltech also has a very active philanthropic outreach called the Pearse Lyons ACE Foundation, which funds are needed in Kentucky and in other parts of the world.
Sadly, Dr. Lyons died in 2018 at the age of 73. His incredible legacy will live on in his company and the energy exuded by his dynamic life. Kentucky is blessed that this Irishman chose to be part of the life of the state.
Kentuckians enjoy our Irish influence by celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Glenda York, a former reference librarian at the Russell County Public Library, expands the celebration through reading about Ireland, along with growing things. “The book How the Irish Saved Civilization is a favorite of mine from the Hinges of History series by Thomas Cahill,” she said. “And I like to enrich my life and home with plants and by trying to live green every day. So, on St. Patrick’s Day, especially, I salute biophilia.”
Dave Robertson, a former Kentucky resident and now living in Texas, toasts the day by making sure his family has the rights spirits for the occasion. “We drink whiskey,” he said. “Whiskey with an ‘e’ refers to grain spirits distilled in Ireland and the United States. Whisky with no ‘e’ refers to Scottish, Canadian, or Japanese grain spirits.” The Robertsons also go for traditional Irish foods, with corned beef and cabbage as favorites, but he added that “as far as I’m concerned, it’s delicious regardless of your lineage.” Lexington resident Carolyn Wheeler loves the same foods but noted that “last year I waited too late to get either for my meal.” I’m told that Costco has plenty.
Dave also added a joke to the discussion: “What’s Irish and sits by the pool? . . . Paddy O’Furniture.” Maybe we all need to sit on that one for a while.
In Falmouth, Harry and Karen Crozier start their St. Paddy’s Day with a traditional Irish breakfast and end the day with Irish stew. Their TV watching, not surprisingly, includes the movie, Finnian’s Rainbow, along with watching QVC and buying an item from Ireland each year. “Harry and I both have some Irish heritage,” said Karen, “so we try to embrace it in March. We even taught our kids the Trinity with the Shamrock, as legend says that is how St. Patrick taught it.”
Susan Gall, a Kentucky native now living in Florida, confessed that she and her husband, Randy, once skipped out of work early to go to a St. Paddy’s party at a Lexington bar. “After consuming a few too many green beers, Randy decided to go up and kiss the female reporter who was broadcasting live on a local television station,” she said. “Unbeknownst to Randy, his boss had gotten sick, went home early, and was watching the live broadcast. Naturally, he saw Randy’s little stunt and it was well before quitting time. Busted.”
• Jessica Stott shared from her past that she and her deceased grandfather shared St. Patrick Day birthdays. Jessica, of Nicholasville, mentioned that they “had a green birthday cake of some sort every year.”
• Joanne Brown, a health care worker nurse from Lexington, made “Nana’s Irish Soda Bread” with her grandmother, and now makes it with her own grandchildren.
• Celebrating her genealogy, Versailles resident Anissa Penn buys shamrocks and puts them on her Irish ancestors’ gravestones.
• One person told me she quit wearing a “Kiss me, I’m Irish” button because “too many did.”
And in my search for Irish connections to Kentucky, I was delighted to find out about the community of Limerick, in Louisville. According to their website, the area sits between 5th and 9th Streets and Breckinridge and Oak Streets. The Limerick Neighborhood Association wants people to know that their mission is to “foster a caring, inclusive, communal, safe, and fun neighborhood where all can thrive” and has vision to “seek to collaborate with neighbors to create the most beautiful, fun, and livable neighborhood in the city.” I’ve put Limerick on my “places to visit” list.
I also found a good article online in the April 4, 2022 Northern Kentucky Magazine about Irish emigrants who moved to Northern Kentucky in the mid-1800s. There were basically two phases of movement, the article said. First, there were those who came before the 1850s from Northern Ireland (Ulster) and were mostly Protestant. The second were called the mostly Catholic “Famine Irish,” seeking to escape the ravages of starvation and poverty, much brought on by harsh treatment by the British government. This group, often poor and unskilled, had rough challenges, but many Catholic churches were built in the area to service their beliefs and help them feel at home.
The article noted that “the Irish in Northern Kentucky eventually became police officers, firefighters, distillers, mayors, legislators and entered the professions. Their influence in the community has been a lasting one.” Since I, as a Flairty, have Irish blood, it shouldn’t surprise that I believe that those from the land of shamrocks have been a pretty good influence ALL AROUND our state.
Luck o’ the Irish to all my lads and lassies.
