Gold
Medal Dinner & Award Ceremony
May 3, 2007 at the Park Plaza, Boston
The Eire Society
of Boston hosted this years Gold
Medal Dinner and
Award Ceremony on May 3, 2007 at
the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. Celebrating
our 70th year
as Boston's original Irish cultural
organization, the society awarded
Ambassador Jean Kennedy
Smith who has been noted for her
central role in the peace efforts
in Ireland
during the 1990s and for her humanitarian
efforts in the United States.
See
the 2007 Gold Medal Feature in
Irish America Magazine
 Jean Kennedy Smith was the US Ambassador
to Ireland during the Clinton Administration,
continuing a legacy of diplomacy
begun by her father, who was Ambassador
to the Court of St. James's during
the Roosevelt administration. Ambassador
Kennedy Smith played a pivotal role
in the peace process in Northern
Ireland that resulted in the historic
Easter Agreement. She served as Ambassador
for nearly five years before returning
the United States. Over
her lifetime, Ambassador Kennedy
Smith has also devoted her time and
resources to mentally and physically
challenged children. In 1974 she
founded Very Special Arts, a nonprofit
organization which promotes the artistic
talents of mentally and physically
challenged children. She also sits
on the board of the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts.
The Eire
Society's Gold Medal is awarded
annually to a person or people
of Irish heritage who have made
significant contributions to society
and to their chosen fields of expertise.
Previous recipients include President
John F. Kennedy, filmmakers John
Ford and John Huston, Irish actress
Siobhan McKenna, Seamus Heaney,
John Huston, long time US Ambassador
to Ireland William V. Shannon and
former Speaker of the US House
of Representatives John W. McCormack.
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Photos
by Karen Ann Thornton © 2007 |
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Father
Donald Macmillan, SJ and
David Barry,
Boston's Irish
Consul
General
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Member
Trisha Giffen Carty with
Thomas Carty, Eire Society
Director and Niamh Lynch, Director
of the Irish Institue,
Boston College
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Eire
Society Director and Past-President
Michael Neagle
with Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith
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Eire
Society Members Lauren
Estes and Paula Maloney
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Ambassador
Jean Kennedy Smith and
long time
Eire Society
Director Peggy Salmon
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Former
2006-2007 Eire Society
President Edris Kelly,
Director Michael
Neagle
and special guest Elizabeth
Shannon
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Eire
Society Members Collette
and Michael Quinlin,
of (BITA) The Boston Irish
Tourism Association
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Peter
B. Estes, 2007-2008 Eire
Society President
with
Ambassador Jean Kennedy
Smith
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Ed
Forry of the Boston Irish
Reporter Newspaper and
Mary Ellen Mulligan
with Seamus Mulligan,
host of radio show "Feast
of Irish Music" on
WROL
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Eire
Society Director James O'Brien,
Beverly Armour
and Thomas P. O'Neill III of
O'Neill and Associates
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