About two months into my first season as a Bunratty girl, I was just about finding my feet among the glamour of the girls, we were still girls - later on life , its ups and downs misfortunes and successes would see us become women. Those girls , their talent, their personality , seemed to me “the chosen “.
I tried not to be too impressed with myself that I too was one of them. It was just a matter of luck, a kind of lottery system where your number came up , 1800 young women applied in our year 1966. . 4 were hired.
Getting ready for the 6 pm banquet one evening I had just put on my velvet Kingfisher blue dress with Oona Kelly the head girl zipping me up when a Jacqmar scarfed , tall , rain coated girl was introduced to me.
Rosemary - this is Alice Foy.
She’s from Limerick , she used to be a temporary girl but then she went to America.
Glad to meet you Rosemary, , said Alice , with just a hint of an American accent.
She could slip into any number of American accents as quickly as she removed herJacqmar scarf.
Glad to meet you too Alice - do you live here in Shannon with the rest of us ?
No , she said I am still living in Limerick at my parent’s home.
I used to work for the Emerald Shillelagh Chowder and Marching Society in Fairfax Virginia giving the Fairfax Virginia a Scarlet O ‘Hara southern belle lilt
That sounds fascinating , I said , especially what did you say ?
The Emerald Shillelagh’s chowder and what society part of it ?
Yes , she said , they were a travel club and had their own plane.
I worked as secretary , flight attendant and general office manager factotum. She said with her infectious and memorable laugh.
How did you leave that? I said- impressed by such a range of talents and working for a company that sounded just like it was a Disney Cartoon, the very definition of colorful American daring ,adventure and success.
I got a job as a permanent Bunratty girl and I couldn’t turn that down.
That evening began my life long relationship with Alice Foy.
A sense of her self - is how she was described - before self-esteem was a thing.
A shoot from the hip , fast on the draw repartee- before Robert Di Niro’s - are you talkin’ to me, Alice could sniff out mysogeny with whip lash speed.
No ! Alice I was actually talking to your shadow ,said one of the brass with more balls than authority.
A team shake up saw Alice , Jackie Dolan Michael Lane, Cáit Ní Quish and me sent off to the outer reaches of the western world.
Bunratty was the desired hub , less desirable was a trip in a food van over The Burren to the wild and desolate setting of Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara Co Galway.
Alice had an extraordinarily beautiful mezzo-soprano voice and had already been recognized when she won the Oireactas gold medal a year or two earlier. The distinction put her squarely in the pantheon of best Irish voices of the era.
Alice and I lived together with this team for four years May until October during which time we formed the Burren Flora trio with Jackie Dolan. Our audiences for the most part were American and Alice could pick up every New York , Mid Western , Southern inflection in overheard conversations and retell them with laser sharp wit and idiom.
We have Irish dancing in the Bronx one lady said- I send my daughter but it ain’t the same , it don’t do her no good because she ain’t got the heritage. You girls got the the heritage.
We’re Russian , maybe I’ll get her to take up Cossack dancing.
I don’t do no good , because Alice ain’t here to tell the story.
Our life and musical adventures including a Winter in Majorca working at the Tago Mago Club in Palma followed by contracts with the Eamon Andrew Studios, the Embankment in Tallaght . We had about three gigs a day so we could afford our fancy flat on Palmerston Park . Our last one , late at night at Jonathan‘s Grafton Street’s chic café. The 22-year-old Peter Duffy took one look at the arresting Alice , heard her magnificent singing voice and said to the assembled table , that’s the girl I’m going to marry. That’s the girl he married.
Alice Foy from Limerick.
By coincidence Luke Kelly came to hear us that same night. He can’t get in because he’s not wearing a tie , one of the servers came and told us. I took off the cloth belt I was wearing on my dress and said - see if that will fit the bill.
It did and Luke took his place at another table within our sightlines.
The good old days.
Because of Alice , I took up the harp.
She was later living in London with Peter and I went to visit her at her apartment. There in the corner of the room was a beautiful Lyon and Health Troubadour Harp.
I said , hardly able to contain myself “Alice you play the harp “
It was another of those Alice moments with at least one hand on her hip - she said nothing to it - when I asked her how and where. She said Termonfeckin in Co Louth. Cairde Na Cruite.
I said “ you probably wouldn’t know that Fergus , my brother lives there. In Termonfeckin!
Yes , she said , I knew that.
But did you know that William Butler Yeat ‘s daughter-in-law Gráinne Yeats started a harp school - why don’t you come with me? I followed her lead and found the next chapter in life.
Because of Alice and her encouraging warm belief in my ability to take up the harp at age 51.
Alice was part of Wilde Irish Women with Bunratty Alums Breeda Ward and Dolores Croke Daly. A show I wrote and which was performed in Dundalk in 2004.
Part of the show was 4 Harpists as the 4 Graces surrounding Daniel O Connell on his plinth on O ‘Connell St Dublin.
The Mother Pluckers , we played ourselves and to ourselves with Alice’s best line - she wouldn’t be playing that harp except for me.
Nothing could be truer.
It was in our future that we would live in the US not far from one another.
Alice emigrated with her husband Peter and started a very responsible job at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She described it as her dream job.
We continued our Harp adventures under the tutelage of the talented Maeve Gilchrist.
Every summer Jane Winchester- retired ophthalmologist and another Termonfeckin harp alum organized a week together at the Angels Rest overlooking the verdant hills of Western Massachusetts. We could walk through dairy farms every day into Vermont and spend the day playing new tunes and old.
About five years ago I noticed that Alice was wasn’t quite herself.
Her wit seemed a little blunted and her grasp of the music less sharp.
It was the beginning of a descent into foggy memory, loss of language, the gradual decline of the dementia afflicted.
Even as her conversation was disappearing her singing voice and retrieval of lyrics remained for several years.
She was in the Watertown Health Center just a few miles from where she had lived with Peter in Watertown.
Jane and I coordinated visits when we could.
Breeda and Dolores came from Ireland , spent time with Alice , together we played and sang - a year ago in February.
Delores and Breeda came again last November. The warmth of their presence and whatever was obscured in memory seemed to clear a little and they were able to get a few more songs.
I knew I would not be able to go to see her through this pandemic.
I had a call from Peter on April 13 th morning to tell me that Alice died of Covid 19.
She died twice , one from dementia and the other death -Alice Foy Duffy -one of 800 people who have died thus far in Massachusetts. A unique voice was also silenced for the second time.
Alice Foy Duffy - one remarkable Wilde Irish Woman