Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s Day Parade
After 20-plus years asking “what
can I do” for the Throggs Neck St.
Patrick’s Day Parade, Sheila Haney
is ready to grand marshal ‘her’ parade.
Photo courtesy Sheila Haney
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BTR MAR. 11-17, 2022 5
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Home for Sheila Haney
spans 3,060 miles.
One home is in Ireland, in
the counties of Leitrim and
Silgo, where she vividly recalls
life on the farm, running
through the fi elds with her
brother Joe and encounters
with a stubborn calf who “had
it in for her.”
Her other home is the Bronx
— Castle Hill’s Chatterton Avenue
— where she was born,
living with her aunt and uncle,
before growing up in the South
Bronx where she’s made lifelong
friends and connections.
Ireland is the home that has
shaped her both personally
and culturally. When Haney
was four, her parents who met
in New York at an Irish dance
and had two other children,
went back to Ireland for what
was supposed to be a short
visit. Instead, that visit would
last three years, when sevenyear
old Sheila said her fi nal
goodbye to her mother, who had
been in poor health and sought
recuperation at home in Ireland.
“Unfortunately, my mother
passed away when I was 7 years
old, and soon thereafter we
were given passage on a ship
and returned to the Bronx. I
still have family in Ireland and
I’ve been lucky enough to go
back and visit several times,”
said Haney. “I’m extremely
proud of my Irish heritage and
all that my parents, grandparents
and aunts and uncles had
to overcome in their lives. My
father fought to free Ireland as
a young man and he held true to
his beliefs all his life.”
But it was in the Bronx
where Haney found love with
her late husband Mickey,
started a family of six with
a move to Edgewater Park
and relished the chance to
merge her two homes together
through a 20-plus year involvement
in the Throggs Neck’s St.
Patrick’s Day Parade.
This year, Haney won’t just
be a participant or volunteer,
she will be one of two grand
marshals in the 24th annual
celebration of the parade. The
other grand marshal is Jack
McCarrick, a fellow civic member
of the Throggs Neck community.
“They always called it ‘My
Parade,’ mostly because I told
them it was mine, so it is a special
honor to be the Grand Marshal
of my parade this year,”
joked Haney, who has long been
a part of the Throggs Neck Benevolent
Association (TNBA)
and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Committee. “My family is preparing
to celebrate and we have
lots of friends and family fl ying
in to take part and march.
I’ve never missed the parade, so
I’m very familiar with the day’s
events and the format – I just
never thought I’d be the one in
the horse and carriage.”
The 86-year-old, who also
celebrates a birthday in March,
is often quoted as saying “what
can I do for you?” and it’s that
act of service that has been instrumental
to the TNBA and
the Parade Committee.
Despite performing almost
every role there is to fulfi ll in
the parade from selling tickets
and raffl es, and working the
annual parade breakfasts to everything
from entertainment
and cleanup, Haney said she
was still shocked when she was
announced as the grand marshal
in 2020.
“I was surprised when they
fi rst told me the news back in
2020, but they said they were
recognizing me as one of their
longest running volunteers. I
know how hard they all work
and I just pitched in wherever I
could … whatever they needed,
I did it,” she said. “It is an incredible
honor to have been
named as a Grand Marshal.
This was an unexpected honor,
but it means the world to me
and my family.”
Of course, Haney has had to
wait two years for this moment,
after the parade was cancelled
in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID
19 pandemic. This year’s
parade, the grand marshal
hopes, is not only a celebration
of Irish contribution and community,
but also a chance to
honor those who won’t be there
in person, but rather in spirit.
“It’s important to bring people
together again to celebrate
the many contributions that the
Irish have made to the world.
The parade is also an opportunity
to celebrate the lives of the
Honorary Grand Marshals,”
she said. “We lost far too many
people in the last few years, but
I will be remembering them
and praying for their souls. Several
of the honorees were very
dear to me and my family; we
will miss them and honor their
memories as we march up the
Avenue.”
Home in Ireland and the Bronx, Sheila Haney
eager to grand marshal ‘her parade’
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