This award was named in honor of the late Edward Casey, (Father of Terry Casey, lead singer of the Fenians), a Hibernian leader from the early 1960's in Orange County. Many AOH members believe, along with the late Michael J. Farrell Sr., that these two men served as an inspiration and mentors to early Hibernians organizing the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Orange County. 
     Their early efforts resulted in the forming of Division #1 in 1962, now the Brothers of Saint Patrick Division in Midway City (with reformations in 1971, and 1992) , the Michael J. Farrell Division #2 (1995) in Anaheim and the Jerry O'Keefe Division, South Orange County #3 in June of 2001. 
     All AOH/LAOH members, their families and friends are invited and encouraged to attend. If you plan on attending, please let us know. I look forward to seeing all of you there.

Fraternally yours,

Francis O'Neil
President, Jerry O'Keefe Division #3

Ed Casey's America Dream
 
    Ed Casey was a man who hailed from County Mayo and also lived in Ballaghadereen County Roscommon , Ireland. However, from the time he was a little boy, he dreamed of going to America.  He once won a local essay contest describing his desire to one day go and see the U.S. of A.  However, he was also a dedicated Irishman and when World War II broke out he put his American dream aside and volunteered for the Irish Army.  He served in the Irish Corp of Engineers and often stated that it was an important time in his life.  He spoke well of the men he served with, men from all over Ireland, and often stated that they were men that he was proud  to know.
 
    After the war, like so many young Irishmen of his time, Ed had to travel to England to seek employment and became a carpenter.  It was there that he met and married the love of his life Kathleen Hegarty, a native of County Cork.  He eventually had the opportunity to follow his dream of traveling to the US and in 1956 he packed up his wife and his two young children, Geraldine and Eamonn, and finally made the trip to America aboard that great ship, the Queen Elizabeth.  He landed in New York City and spent three years in Buffalo, New York before heading west to California in 1959, he settled in Orange County and immediately became part of a very close and active Irish American Community.
 
    In Orange County, Ed had his third child Terry and enrolled all of his children in the local Catholic school.  Ed was a dedicated Catholic and was devoted to the school and parish of Immaculate Heart of Mary, which itself had a large population of children from Irish families.  In l964, he organized a group of dads to help develop the last phase of the school by soliciting donations and by physically building the additional classrooms every day after work during that summer.  Many years later, he took up the same challenge as a member of the fundraising committee to build St. John Neuman Church, his new parish in Irvine. He further supported Catholic causes by giving his time and energy to the Christian Brothers of St. Patrick.  He and his good friend Tony Beirne built the original booths for the first fundraisers supporting the Festival at the Brothers of St. Patrick.  In addition, he was a member of the Knights of Columbus in Orange County and previously, as a young man, overseas.  His Catholicism was part of who he was and it formed the basis for a very idealistic view of life.  Because of his idealism, in l962 he was the founding President of the first Orange County Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which was chartered in Midway City at the Brothers of St Patrick, which is still a hub of the local Irish community to this day.  He also belonged to the Irish National Caucus, an organization founded by Fr. Sean McManus to lobby Congress for Irish Nationalist and Irish civil rights causes.  Later he was a member of Irish Northern Aid.  A strong believer in the rights of the working man, he was very active in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Local 1453. Ed built a career in the building trades with Lusk Homes, over seeing construction of thousands of beautiful homes in Southern California.
    
    Ed Casey was a very proud  man...he was proud of his family, his faith and his Irish roots.  He instilled those values in his children and they have continued in his love of all things Irish.  His son Terry continues to promote Irish culture through his Irish band The Fenians.   And he has several granddaughters who teach and perform Irish Dance and have completed the circle of his American journey by returning to Ireland to compete in the World Competition of Irish Dancing held there every year.
 
    Ed Casey passed away on June 6, 1988.
 
    His eight grand children carry on the American Dream with one an alumnus of USC; one a senior at Loyola-Marymount University; another a senior at USC; another a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame who will be studying in Ireland next year at University College, Dublin; one bound for the University of Santa Clara in the fall, and three more on the path to fulfill the dreams of the young man who wanted a better life for his family in America.  He is much beloved and honored by his family, who miss him greatly.  The following poem truly expresses the essence of a man like Ed Casey and, indeed, of Irishmen everywhere.
 
     Irish He Is
                A strange blend of shyness pride and conceit,
                        And stubborn refusal to bow in defeat.
                  He's spoiling and ready to argue and fight,
               Yet the smile of a child fills his soul with delight
                 His eyes are the quickest to well up in tears
           Yet his strength is the strongest to banish your fears.
                  His hate is a fierce as his devotion is grand,
           And there is no middle ground on which he can stand.
 
               He's wild and he's gentle, he's good and he's bad.
                He's proud and he's humble, he's happy and he's sad.
             He's in love with the ocean, the earth and the skies,
                 He's enamored with beauty wherever it lies.
                     He's victor and victim, a star and a clod.
                           But mostly he's Irish....in love with his God.