Michael Carney of Springfield, a retired court officer, wins honorary doctoral degree in Celtic literature from National University of Ireland
By Stephanie Barry
October 10, 2009, 2:00PM
SPRINGFIELD – Seven decades and an ocean away from the primitive shores of the Great Blasket Island, Michael Carney was called home for an unexpected honor.
The 89-year-old retired court officer traveled back to his homeland recently to receive an honorary doctoral degree in Celtic literature from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
His family says the honor caps a lifelong devotion to preserving the language and promoting the culture – since growing up on the tiny island off the west coast of Ireland, tending bar in Dublin and emigrating to the U.S. in 1948.
For his part, Carney says he was surprised when the invitation came from the university in September.
Carney follows other recipients including President John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela, among others. He chuckles at the comparison.
“To think of it ... a former president and a poor fisherman’s son from the island honored at the same famous college,” he said.
University officials called Carney a “true living link to our heritage and tradition” during a conferral ceremony at the Blasket Center in Kerry on Sept. 21. Carney was joined by his four children, two sons-in-law and two grandchildren.
“As you can imagine, we are all very proud,” son-in-law Gerald W. Hayes said, adding that though Carney was never a writer by profession, he serves as a proxy for the island’s rich literary legacy.
For a three-mile wide island with 150 inhabitants before it was evacuated by the government in 1953, Blasket produced a surprising number of writers.
They include Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain and Maurice O’Sullivan, who wrote in Gaelic about life on the island. Their books were translated into dozens of languages, Hayes said, and Sayers’ memoir, “Peig,” is mandatory reading for students in Ireland.
Carney said the simplicity of life there spawned a great tradition of story-telling. He knew little English when he traveled to the mainland at 16 to take a job as a “bar man,” he said, and the little he did know he gleaned from tourists when he was a boy.
“I tried to talk to them to learn English while they came to learn Gaelic,” he said. “It was a two-way street.
He wrote a Gaelic language column for The Irish Times while he lived in Dublin, and taught adult language courses in Gaelic in this city.
For 20 years here, he worked as a store manager at local A&P markets before applying for a job as a security officer at the Hampden County Hall of Justice. Carney retired from there in 1993.
He was president of the John Boyle O’Reilly Club – the city’s Irish-American social epicenter – for 16 years and served on its board of directors for eight more.
The 89-year-old retired court officer traveled back to his homeland recently to receive an honorary doctoral degree in Celtic literature from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
His family says the honor caps a lifelong devotion to preserving the language and promoting the culture – since growing up on the tiny island off the west coast of Ireland, tending bar in Dublin and emigrating to the U.S. in 1948.
For his part, Carney says he was surprised when the invitation came from the university in September.
Carney follows other recipients including President John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela, among others. He chuckles at the comparison.
“To think of it ... a former president and a poor fisherman’s son from the island honored at the same famous college,” he said.
University officials called Carney a “true living link to our heritage and tradition” during a conferral ceremony at the Blasket Center in Kerry on Sept. 21. Carney was joined by his four children, two sons-in-law and two grandchildren.
“As you can imagine, we are all very proud,” son-in-law Gerald W. Hayes said, adding that though Carney was never a writer by profession, he serves as a proxy for the island’s rich literary legacy.
For a three-mile wide island with 150 inhabitants before it was evacuated by the government in 1953, Blasket produced a surprising number of writers.
They include Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain and Maurice O’Sullivan, who wrote in Gaelic about life on the island. Their books were translated into dozens of languages, Hayes said, and Sayers’ memoir, “Peig,” is mandatory reading for students in Ireland.
Carney said the simplicity of life there spawned a great tradition of story-telling. He knew little English when he traveled to the mainland at 16 to take a job as a “bar man,” he said, and the little he did know he gleaned from tourists when he was a boy.
“I tried to talk to them to learn English while they came to learn Gaelic,” he said. “It was a two-way street.
He wrote a Gaelic language column for The Irish Times while he lived in Dublin, and taught adult language courses in Gaelic in this city.
For 20 years here, he worked as a store manager at local A&P markets before applying for a job as a security officer at the Hampden County Hall of Justice. Carney retired from there in 1993.
He was president of the John Boyle O’Reilly Club – the city’s Irish-American social epicenter – for 16 years and served on its board of directors for eight more.
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