BY BILL FORRY
REPORTER EDITOR
A couple who have spent decades helping Boston kids stay safe and achieve their dreams; a Catholic priest who ministers to the city’s most vulnerable; and a pioneering physician with roots in Dublin will be the honorees at next month’s Boston Irish Honors luncheon, the season’s premier celebration of Irish-American achievement in Massachusetts.
The ninth annual luncheon, which serves as an anniversary celebration for the Boston Irish Reporter, will be held at the Seaport Boston Hotel on Thurs, Oct. 18. Some 400 top Boston business, civic, and political leaders will be on hand for the event, which begins at 11:30 a.m.
Bob Scannell and Mary (Kinsella) Scannell have spent their entire adult lives in service to the families and children of Boston’s largest neighborhood. They are the heart and soul of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester, where they serve as president and vice-president, respectively. While raising a beautiful family of their own, the Scannells have essentially become surrogate parents to thousands of kids and teens in the city. Together, they have created a safe haven for city kids to learn, play, stay healthy, and prepare for higher education and careers— all while having the time of their lives. The Scannells exemplify the best qualities of our Irish-American ideals: selflessness, humility, and a resolve to stay the course through adversity.
Rev. Richard ‘Doc’ Conway will be honored for his remarkable ministry in Boston’s neighborhoods, including his ongoing efforts in Dorchester’s St. Peter parish. An indefatigable advocate for immigrants, the poor and marginalized youths in high-risk neighborhoods of the city, Conway “walks the walk.” He is regularly called upon by law enforcement to help connect with neighbors in his community, where he is a known and trusted confidante and spiritual advisor.
Trevor McGill, MD, is a remarkable immigrant success story, a living connection to our collective legacy as people with roots in Ireland who are now firmly planted in Boston.
Dr. McGill is a world-renowned pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital with a specialty in Otolaryngology. For four decades, he has treated young patients with head and neck tumors, throat disorders, and vascular anomalies. He also teaches at Harvard Medical School and is widely recognized to have “altered clinical care regionally, nationally and internationally.”
He is a sought-after lecturer in universities across the globe and has co-authored 130 peer reviewed papers, chapters and edited 3 textbooks in Pediatric Otolaryngology.
The 35-member luncheon committee is led by US Sen. Edward Markey and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. The program moderator will be Boston Red Sox “poet laureate” Dick Flavin.
“This inspiring luncheon allows us to recognize and celebrate exemplary Irish individuals and their families who share our heritage in Boston and Ireland,” explained Ed Forry, the founder and publisher of the Boston Irish Reporter, a family-owned and-operated media enterprise. “In keeping with our own heritage,” Forry added, “the newspaper tells the stories of Boston-Irish individuals and families of special achievements in public service and business who share our common roots in Boston and Ireland.”
For tickets, call 617-436-1222 or send an email to bostonirishhonors@bostonirish.com.