Rose invited back to ancestral Bere Island home
Bere Islander Mick O’Sullivan, 83, who has lived on the scenic island off the West Cork coast for most of his life, met Texas Rose Haley O’Sullivan on her first visit to the island in January.
She visited the family homestead, spent some time chatting to Mick — her grandfather Joseph’s brother — and discussed her family’s history.
Her grandfather left the island in the 1940s, aged 17, for a new life in San Francisco at a time when emigration was his only option. Haley said he was always very proud of being Irish.
Her strong Irish lineage does not end there, though; her grandmother’s parents hail from Longford and Cork.
“She is a beautiful, elegant girl,” Mick said. “She was in this house in January and I told her that she came from this house.
“She bears a striking resemblance to my late sister, Mary. It was amazing really.”
Mick, who watched the final night of the Rose Festival at home with close family, said there was great excitement when Haley’s name was called out.
“We were jumping around the house,” he said.
The family, he said, was confident she would win, and had placed a few bets. While he declined to discuss the sums involved, he said they are all happy with their winnings.
And he said the family would be delighted if Haley could visit Bere Island again in her official capacity as international Rose of Tralee.
“Of course we’d be delighted to welcome her back — whenever it suits her,” he said.
The 25-year-old Texan beauty graduated from the University of Arizona in 2010 with an honours degree in elementary education.
She works as a marketing co-ordinator for an industrial chemical company.
She is a member of Dallas’s GAA club Fionn Mac Cumhaills and plays midfield on the ladies football team.
Haley also serves as a young leader in the American Ireland Fund and helps fundraising efforts for Catholic charities.
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