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February 2, 2022
Dear Fellow Members,
What a pleasure and a privilege it is to be writing you as president of the Museum of Newport Irish History. Please allow me to tell you a bit about my involvement in the organization and share my perspective on its recent history and bright future.
In 2005, I was invited to join the board by our founding president, the late Vince Arnold, and in 2008 I became treasurer following the passing of then-treasurer, Bill Nagle. I have witnessed the Museum grow from a concept to an actual brick and mortar operation, and seen its membership quadruple in size, now with a roster of over 800 individuals from Newport County and well beyond. What a thrilling journey it has been!
I continue to be impressed with our growth and the amazing dedication and generous support of our members and our board, without whom, none of this could have been possible.
Please take a moment to visit the “Board” page of our website so you might “meet” our new treasurer, Carol Lepley, and new vice president, Rick O’Neill, and see the full roster of all officers and other members of the board. These fellow member-volunteers are a wonderful team, and I know they will continue to serve you well.
On behalf of the membership and the board, I express much gratitude to Mike Slein, who took over as president in 2014 after Vince’s passing. Under Mike’s strong and inspiring leadership, the organization achieved tremendous growth in membership, fiscal stability, and a strengthened community presence. He continued Vince’s legacy of instilling the organization, its board and membership, with a strong sense of our mission, to honor the important contributions of the Irish in building Newport and the surrounding communities.
We have all suffered in these unprecedented times, individually and as a community. During these challenging times, the Museum endeavored to maintain contact with the membership and continue to offer you programming of value. We presented our Michael F. Crowley Lectures “virtually,” via Zoom, and continued to offer the virtual option after resuming in-person talks. We safely reopened our Interpretive Center, though on a more limited basis, and offered private tours for members. Our communications via mail, e-newsletter, and Facebook were uninterrupted, and our website, newportirishhistory.org, was redesigned to be a more useful resource. The Barney Street Cemetery continued to be maintained as a site of historic importance and interest, thanks to members’ donation of time and talent.
We are all looking forward to celebrating our heritage during the 45th Annual Newport Irish Heritage Month this March. Hopefully, and with a little bit of “Irish Luck,” I will see you at some of the activities we have planned (please read on for details).
Again, to you, our members, thank you for all your interest and support. I look forward to continuing to build on Mike and the board’s successes and to meeting you all and hearing your ideas for future activities and initiatives. To 2022!
Sláinte,
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