Kathleen
Montague – recipient of the Sr. Sarah Clarke Award
 Kathleen
Montague was born in the Bronx, New York.
Her mother, Lilly Daly was from
Kilrush Co Clare and her father Thomas Smyth was from Co Meath.
Kathleen and her two brothers, Tommy and Pat lived in Kilrush
for seven years, as her mother was not able to return to the
United States, as she was not a citizen
Kathleen met her husband, John
Montague a native of Co Tyrone at a dance in Gaelic Park. They
have four daughters, Doreen, Sheila, Eileen and Kathleen and one
son, Johnny who is deceased. Doreen is the mother of Kellie,
Tara, Timothy and Margaret. Eileen and her husband Tommy have
two sons Tommy and Séan.
Kathleen worked in the Irish
Northern Aid (INA) office along with Mike Flannery, John Mc
Elhone and Jack Mc Carthy. She remembers the period of the
hunger strike of 1981 as an emotional and particularly sad
period. When the office was moved to 207th St., Kathleen worked
there with John until his death and then worked with Barney
Mulligan who took over the running of the INA office.
When the split occurred with
INA, the Friends Of Irish Freedom was reorganized and
Kathleen became the Secretary –Treasurer. The Friends supported
the Tyrone Prisoners Defense Fund and the Irish Political
Prisoners, which was the organization that was run by Sr Sarah
Clarke.
It was through personal contacts
that Kathleen got to know and admire Sr. Sarah. Amongst the many
families that Sr Sarah helped over the years was the family of
Sean Campbell R.I.P. a good friend of the Montagues.
The Pat Mullin chapter of the
Friends Of Irish Freedom, under the leadership of chairman,
Charlie Mc Loughlin, sponsors the Easter Commemoration and
breakfast each year.
As was pointed out by Liam
Murphy on Radio Free Eireann recently, Kathleen was Sr Sarah’s
counterpart in America and she contacted Sr Sarah when funds
were available. Kathleen was also the administrator behind the
scenes, who was largely responsible for the smooth running of
the big Irish Northern aid dinners in the 70’s, a talent which
now serves the Friends of Irish Freedom equally well.
She has truly been found
faithful to the Fenian faith, to the bright dream of the men and
women of 1916.
Kathleen
and John return to Tyrone each year, and their hope is that one
day soon, that they will se a 32 county United Irish Republic,
free of anything British
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