SR0736 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0736 LRB093 23854 CSA 54131 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Patrick J. Roche of Chicago, deemed the "Chief O'Neill of Irish dancing", died at the age of 99 on October 24, 2004, just four months shy of his 100th birthday, after a lifetime of spreading the music and dance woven through Irish culture and craic; and

WHEREAS, He was born in Ireland, in Doonaha, County Clare, to a family of 10 children; he only went to the third grade in a country riven by colonialism, poverty and the fight for Irish independence; he learned dancing from a traveling dance master who came to Clare when he was a boy; and

WHEREAS, During Ireland's war of independence in the 1920s, he served as a dispatcher for the Irish Republican Army; in 1925, he immigrated to New York, then five years later moved to Chicago, where for three years he ran a grocery business and founded the Roche School of Irish Dancing; while running his school, he held two full-time jobs as a stationary engineer with the Chicago Board of Education and Cook County Hospital; for the Chicago's World's Fair in 1933 and 1934, he organized shows of Irish music and dance and founded America's first ceili music band, the Harp and Shamrock Ceili Band; in 1945, he introduced the first feis to the Midwest; he also hosted an Irish radio show and was former editor of the American Gael newspaper; and

WHEREAS, He was the single most influential person in Irish dancing in this country; his fiery feet helped spread the popularity of Irish step-dancing all the way from Europe to the United States, and he lived long enough to see it transformed from a lark performed on the wooden floors of Chicago taverns to a spectacle wowing Broadway and Las Vegas; and

WHEREAS, He had four children with his first wife, Kathleen McDonnell, who died in 1948, and later married Grace Dorgan and had four more children; he impressed on his family the need for unity, family loyalty, and love; and

WHEREAS, The passing of Patrick J. Roche will be felt by all who knew and loved him, especially his wife, Grace; his daughters, Peggy Roche Boyle, Kathleen McDonnell, Mary Pat Kulak, and Colette McGrath; his sons, Patrick Jr., John, Kevin, and Michael; his children's husbands and wives; his 26 grandchildren; his grandchildren's husbands and wives; and his 14 great-grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Patrick J. Roche and extend our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and community; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Patrick J. Roche as an expression of our deepest sympathy.