The Eire Society of Boston will hold award its Gold Medal to Dr. Catherine B. Shannon, Professor Emerita of History at Westfield State University, at its 78th Gold Medal Dinner on Saturday evening, April 25, at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. For four decades, Prof. Shannon Ph.D. taught courses in Irish, British and European History at the Western Mass. campus.
The Eire Society of Boston will hold its 78^th Gold Medal Dinner on Saturday evening, 25 April at 6pm at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. This year, the Gold Medal Honoree is Dr. Catherine B. Shannon, Professor Emerita of History at Westfield State University.

For four decades, Catherine B. Shannon Ph.D. taught courses in Irish, British and European History. She is the author of /Arthur J. Balfour and Ireland, 1874 -1922 /(1988), and /The Churchills in Ireland: Connections and Controversies/ (2012 Irish Academic Press), where she explored the role of Lord Randolph Churchill in Irish affairs from 1877- 1893.

She has published book chapters and articles on the role of women in the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process, and was actively involved in the 1980’s- 1990’s in the search for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Dr. Shannon was the first woman president of the 278 year old Charitable Irish Society of Boston, served as president of the Eire Society of Boston and was a member of the Executive Committee of the American Conference of Irish Studies for over a decade.In 1999 she was among 15 Irish-Americans from Massachusetts to receive a “Dreamer of Dreams” award from the New York based Irish Voice newspaper.Dr. Shannon was the recipient of the Solas Award from the Irish International Immigration Center and the Irish Heritage Award from the Irish American Partnership, both based in Boston.She is currently researching the role of Boston and New England in providing food aid to Ireland in 1847 at the height of the Great Famine.

Last month’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in South Boston unveiled a new deal along the parade route while tradition kept pace at the Convention Center where state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, in her second year as host, presided over the annual holiday breakfast where politicians tried to one-up each other over scrambled eggs, sausages, and corned-beef hash and before some 500 guests.

Catherine O’Neill will stage her second play in Boston next month.

Beginning on March 6, Dorchester playwright Catherine O’Neill will invite audiences to the Boston Center for the Arts see her most personal work yet. In “The Fence,” O’Neill recounts how her father built a chain-link fence for her brother as an act of love – only for the son to ask to tear it down because of its ugliness and negative reactions from neighbors. The ensuing drama unearths what she describes as “a world full of hate and secrets” that highlights “the heart of ageism, socioeconomic growth, and acceptance among first-generation Bostonians.”

By using her family as her inspiration, O’Neill gave herself a chance to reflect on the journey they took from Ireland to Boston. She is the youngest of seven children and the only one born in the United States.

“My parents and my 6 brothers emigrated to this country,” she says. “I never considered how brave that was, for a long, long time.

Students from the Harney Academy of Irish Dance in “A Little Bit Of Ireland” at Reagle Music Theatre, March 14 and 15. Photo courtesy of Reagle Music Theatre / Herb Philpott Photo.

It all began with a backstage “hello” more than a decade ago following a performance of Hal Prince’s acclaimed revival of “Showboat” when leading lady Sarah Pfisterer met Bob Eagle, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Waltham’s Reagle Music Theatre.  That brief greeting has led to an enduring personal and professional connection that lasts to this day.

A Metropolitan Opera semi-finalist with a master’s in Music from Northwestern University, Sarah has become a mainstay at Reagle in recent years, regularly appearing in summer musicals such as “Carousel,” “The Music Man,” “The Sound of Music” and ”My Fair Lady.”  She has also performed in the company’s annual Christmas production.  

And later this month she will return to Waltham to sing in Reagle’s 17th annual St. Patrick’s Day revue, “A Little Bit Of Ireland,” on March 14 and 15.