Senior (Life)Style with Eileen O’Brien

By Eileen O’Brien

Hey, friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears. What does the month of March bring to mind for you? For some in 2026, it is the Lunar New Year which this year is the year of the Fire Horse. This is a year for bold action and taking risks. Now for others, March is Women’s History Month, which honors all the great females who have come before us and championed causes like the right to vote,  holding  public office, equal pay, and owning  property, to name just a few of the rights we have since come to take for granted. And then there are those of us in March who stand a little taller, speak our family name a little louder and wear every shade of green we can find while wishing to all who will listen a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!   At this point in time, you are more than likely asking yourself what these three different March celebrations might have in common? So grab that cup of coffee or tea and get ready to find out.

The year is 1906, and Mary Lee is disembarking from the boat that has taken her from the   only home she has ever known… Ireland. It was not really a choice to leave her family and the life she had tried to build there. It was the famine, religious persecution, poverty and violence that drove her away from the land she loved. She is young, she is single, she is strong, she is honest and she is taking the biggest risk of her life.  Mary, along with the Italians, Greeks, Polish, Hungarians, Germans, Slavs and other European groups at that time were all searching for a better life. Unfortunately, this new immigrant group was not welcomed with open arms. Mary was often greeted with “Irish Need Not Apply” signs when applying for work. Undeterred, Mary secured a position as a domestic. She was promoted to Nanny/Teacher to the children of a rich family and became very much in demand in her new land due to her intelligence, personality and work ethic. In 1919, Mary married the love of her life, Patrick, another Irish immigrant. Patrick’s first job was shoveling coal into boilers, but he soon rose to running the heating deptartment in various government buildings during World War One. The newlyweds scrimped and saved and in 1924 Mary and Patrick were able to purchase a home in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. By the time America entered into the Second World War in 1939, Mary and Patrick were the parents of five children, a girl and four boys. The three oldest boys joined the US Navy and fought in WW2. The girl studied nursing and the youngest boy, who was just a baby at this time, would eventually become a Doctor and a Lawyer. Throughout all the years of their lives, Mary and Patrick taught their children to always welcome the new immigrants to their wonderful America. These new folks came from far off lands like India, the Philippines, Africa, Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, Spain, South America to name just a few.

By now, you’re scratching your head and wondering, “SO?” The “SO” is that, YOU, as a Rockland County Senior, can be the bridge in helping your family, friends and neighbors understand the importance of the “beautiful mosaic” that makes Rockland the wonderful place it is. Be bold, take a risk and welcome the newest among us who work in our nursing homes, childcare facilities, restaurants, hospitals, schools, group residences for the developmentally and mentally disabled, deliver our mail and packages, help us keep our homes and properties maintained,  to list just a few of their meaningful and important  contributions immigrants make to make our local life better. We can be proud of our ancestors, we can be proud of ourselves and we can teach those younger than us that we are more similar than different to the good people who want to make Rockland County their home.

In 2026, we are celebrating the 250th Anniversary of this wonderful nation. Let us, in our welcoming and empathic Rockland way, try to follow the advice of our “fellow senior” standing, oh so tall and proud,  in our magnificent Hudson River: 

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

Let’s be the guiding and welcoming light in the tradition of Mary and Patrick O’Brien, who to the last days of their lives, instilled in their children, grandchildren, great-grand children their gratitude to this 250 year old Democracy…Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Although March came in like a lion, here’s hoping it leaves like a lamb… On to spring!