MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
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THURSDAY. JUNE 27. I Ml
SEEK KENNEDY LOOK The family re- tant relatives of U.S. President John F.
semblance may not be too obvious, but Mrs. Kennedy. A visit to his ancestral home here
Mary Ryan and most of her neighobrs in is expected to be one of the highlights of
New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, are dis- the chief executive's tour of Ireland. (UPI)
By DONAL O'HIGGINS
United Presi International
Dublin -WTO- They're rollin'
out the green carpet all over
this Emerald Isle for the ex
pected visit of President John
Fitzgerald Kennedy, a return
ing son of Erin whose great
grandfather set sail for the
New World more ' than- 100
years ago.
In the-little river-port com
munity of New Ross, in Coun
ty Wexford, a special platform
has been erected to ceremo
niously welcome the President
near the old cobblestone quay
side where young Patrick
Kennedy left in the mid-I9th
century.'
New Ross, which will play
host to the President during
his planned stay June 26-29,
is the most important town
in the country today. But here
in Dublin, in Cork, in Galway
and in tiny villages through
out the country, the bunting is
going up ("Dead Mile Faille"
it says in Gaelic - "100,000
Welcomes") for what may be
the warmest reception ever
given a visiting head of state.
"It is going to be the great
est reception in living mem
ory," said Andy Minihan,
chief organizer of the New
Ross welcome.
Just about four miles from
that ancient town lies the
small cluster of houses known
as Dunganstown where Mrs.
Mary Ryan, a third cousin of
the American president, is the
proud keeper of the ancestral
Kennedy birthplace.
It was from a tiny, red
painted little dwelling with a
galvanized red roof (where
once there was a thatched cov
ering) that young Patrick
Kennedy set out for the immi
grant ship. It was there Presi
dent Kennedy's forebears
lived at the time the great po
tato famine decimated the
Irish and drove them in tens
of thousands to find a' new
life in the United States.
Mrs. Ryan loves to chat
about her famous kinsman,
whom she has met twice al
ready, but she said she is not
planning anything special for
her next meeting. "He knows
what we are like and how we
live and, somehow, I think he
would be disappointed to find
things all fussed up when he
gets here," she said.
President Kennedy is as
Irish as all get out and people
are, indeed, getting "fussed
up" over him however. But,
despite some still-live hopes,
he doesn't plan to kiss the
Blarney Stone.
In fact, Press Secretary
Pierre Salinger, who went to
Ireland last month to make
trip arrangements, said the
President would not go to
Blarney Castle, home of the
famous stone. The Chief Ex
ecutive's back condition and
the acrobatics involved in
kissing the stone would keep
the President from trying it.
echoed to the marching feet
of bowmen, archers and
Oliver C r o m well's soldiers.
The most famous landmark is
the defiant statue of the
"croppy boy" with right hand
aloft, trailing the Irish flag,
which commemorates the
bloody battle of 1798 in which
New Ross, the military key to
the whole province of Mun-
ster, was nearly 'destroyed by
fire.
But today there is a new
atmosphere in the town. The
ancient landmarks, traditions
and symbols of a freedom
hard-won and dearly-held, are I tourists. Busts of the President
happy to share pride of place are on sale everywhere,
with the Stars and Stripes, About half mile down the
emblem of the adopted land twisting road from Dungans
of the town's most illustrious j town, is a two-story house
family. where James Kennedy and
In the shops, in the hotels his wife live with their four
and in private homes one I children - Anna,' Patrick,
finds the American tl a g Peggy and Kitty. 1
proudly on show and treated
with the same honor afforded
the Irish tricolor.
And with the new aware
ness of its kinship with the
United States, has come a new
prosperity to the town in the
form of thousands of eager
James is Mary's brother and
shares with her the honor of
being the closest Irish rcla
tives of the President. Ken
nedy, when he visited Ireland
as a U.S. Senator, succeded in
locating James and his family
for a chat.
Edward Keane, a genealo
gist who is an official of the
national library in Dublin, has
been tracing the Kennedy
family tree from official par
ish records, tombstones and
other documents.
"The Kennedys of the Presl
dent's stock have been in the
Dunganstown (Wexford) area
for more than 200 years - 100
years before Patrick moved
out and 100 years since," he
said.
"Patrick's family had 2T
acres of good arable land in
1824 and two adjoining Ken-
D 5
jCeoDonedv
nedy farms had a total acre
age of 80 acres.
"In the famine days it was
the landless men and the la
borers who either died from
hunger or wera forced to
emigrate. The Kennedy fam
ily certainly could not be in
cluded in those classes. They
were fairly substantial, strong
farmers."
Vandenberg AFBTCalif. -01PD
- The Air Force launched
a satellite, presumably of the
Discoverer scries, Wednesday
from this Pacific missile
range base.
PRIZE FILM PREMIERED
New York - JPU - The
prize winning Russian film
"My Name Is Ivan" had its
premiere here Wednesday
night before an audience of
40 UN ambassadors and stars
of stage and screen. ,
lie who would kiss the
stone must climb to the top
of the old castle and lie flat
on his back, grasp two up
right iron bars and let a
sturdy local boy hold onto his
ankles. Then he inches his
body through an opening
above which rests the stone.
Next, his eyes facing the
sky, the nape of his neck pro
jecting toward the trees be
low, he must trust to the firm
pair of Irish hands to haul
him to safety by the ankles.
Is it worth it? The Irish
poets think so. One wrote:
"There is a stone that whoever
kisses
Oh. he never misses to grow
eloquent,
Tis he may clamber to a
lady's chamber
Or become a member of Par
liament." Quipped one Dublincr: The
eloquence that the legendary
stone is said to bequeath
"would help solve some of his
(the President's) 1964 election
problems."
Perched atop a steep hill
overlooking the River Barrow
and lying some 90 miles south
east of Dublin, New Ross
boasts a proud tradition of
Irish fighting lore. With its
population of just under 5,000,
the outward appearance ol
the town was changed little
in the years since President
Kennedy's great grandfather
lived there.
Many of the streets once
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