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St. Patrick’s Day always provides an opportunity for people to be Irish in spirit, if not exactly in heritage.
For others, however, the occasion means more — it’s a chance to celebrate their real-life Irish roots. For Margaret and Bill McNamee, those roots are very much alive and well.
So it is perhaps only appropriate that the Leavenworth couple be named the grand marshals for the 28th annual Leavenworth St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Bill said the announcement came in the middle of the senior night basketball game at Immaculata High School.
“After we had gone through the senior night festivities they asked that Margaret and I go out to center court — we had no idea,” Bill said.
Confused, as all three of their own children had already graduated from Immaculata, he said he was humbled and surprised at the honor.
“I was shocked,” in a good way, when the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee came out with balloons, Margaret said Wednesday.
They will join Comdt. Rossa Mulcahy from Ireland, the honorary grand marshal who is currently a student at the Command and General Staff College.
Bill is a lifelong Leavenworth County resident, along with three past generations of family members, and a graduate of Immaculata High School. He then entered the Air Force and later graduated from Saint Mary College, now the University of Saint Mary.
Over the years, Bill said he has served on the city of Leavenworth’s Civil Service commission and the Archdiocesan Council. He is also the voice of Immaculata sports, having announced home football and basketball games at the school for more than 20 years.
Margaret has been the director of the local chapter of the interdenominational group Birthright for 25 years. She is also a Saint Mary graduate.
Over the years, Bill said they have together been involved in activities through their church, Sacred Heart/St. Casimir parish, in area schools and in the community. They’ve found time to also raise two daughters and one son.
Both also have Irish roots, preserved through decades of family stories.
Bill said he grew up on a farm about 10 miles south of the city of Leavenworth. His parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were also Leavenworth County residents, he said. Some of them are buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery near Easton.
“There’s a lot of memories we have thinking back to my parents,” he said. “My father was always very proud to be an Irishman.”
St. Patrick’s Day always provides an opportunity for people to be Irish in spirit, if not exactly in heritage.
For others, however, the occasion means more — it’s a chance to celebrate their real-life Irish roots. For Margaret and Bill McNamee, those roots are very much alive and well.
So it is perhaps only appropriate that the Leavenworth couple be named the grand marshals for the 28th annual Leavenworth St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Bill said the announcement came in the middle of the senior night basketball game at Immaculata High School.
“After we had gone through the senior night festivities they asked that Margaret and I go out to center court — we had no idea,” Bill said.
Confused, as all three of their own children had already graduated from Immaculata, he said he was humbled and surprised at the honor.
“I was shocked,” in a good way, when the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee came out with balloons, Margaret said Wednesday.
They will join Comdt. Rossa Mulcahy from Ireland, the honorary grand marshal who is currently a student at the Command and General Staff College.
Bill is a lifelong Leavenworth County resident, along with three past generations of family members, and a graduate of Immaculata High School. He then entered the Air Force and later graduated from Saint Mary College, now the University of Saint Mary.
Over the years, Bill said he has served on the city of Leavenworth’s Civil Service commission and the Archdiocesan Council. He is also the voice of Immaculata sports, having announced home football and basketball games at the school for more than 20 years.
Margaret has been the director of the local chapter of the interdenominational group Birthright for 25 years. She is also a Saint Mary graduate.
Over the years, Bill said they have together been involved in activities through their church, Sacred Heart/St. Casimir parish, in area schools and in the community. They’ve found time to also raise two daughters and one son.
Both also have Irish roots, preserved through decades of family stories.
Bill said he grew up on a farm about 10 miles south of the city of Leavenworth. His parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were also Leavenworth County residents, he said. Some of them are buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery near Easton.
“There’s a lot of memories we have thinking back to my parents,” he said. “My father was always very proud to be an Irishman.”
Margaret said her own family also is Irish and boasts a Kansas connection. The great-grandfather on the side of her maiden name, Dorsey, helped build the railroads in the state, afterwards moving to St. Louis, where she was raised.
They’ve almost always attended the Leavenworth parade, Margaret said, and have usually had an accompanying meal of corned beef, cabbage and soda bread at home on that day.
Margaret said the work that she and her husband do fits well with the celebration of Irish lineage.
“It’s living your faith, basically,” she said. “And that’s the reason that most Irish immigrants came here, was to live their faith and survive.”
It’s something that Bill said many of the past St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshals have in common. Upon attending a recent event at Immaculate Conception Church and looking at the plaque of former grand marshals, he said he was proud be in that company.
“I think a lot of it is just the recognition, thinking back to what the values that our parents and our grandparents gave to us and what we are going to hopefully be able to pass on to our children and grandchildren,” he said. “To volunteer for various topics, or projects, to see what we can do to help those in the community.”
