Grand Marshals
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
“Try to do something good
for someone else,” is among
the lessons Jack McCarrick
wants to pass on to future generations.
And he has seen it in his
children, and his children’s
children, like his grandson
Thomas, who is almost
7-years-old and in the fi rst
grade.
“He’s very outward and
open to other people,” McCarrick
said. “And he always tries
to do things for other kids in
his classes.”
It’s too early to tell for Mc-
Carrick’s granddaughter
Kelsey, who, at 21 months, is
“fending for her own right
now,” but “a very happy child.”
McCarrick is one of the
two grand marshals for the
Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s
Day parade. He is a fi rst-generation
Irish American, and
has visited Ireland many
times, which he calls his second
home.
“To me, St. Patricks Day
itself has to do with the
saint and what he did for Ireland,
that is, he came and he
brought Christianity into the
land where it didn’t exist before,”
he said. “He wasn’t the
fi rst one to go there but he was
the fi rst one who made such an
impact.”
McCarrick celebrates the
holiday each year with traditional
music, going to church,
and ultimately celebrating his
heritage.
“A lot of people think it’s
a day to go out drinking and
things like that,” he said. “I
don’t view it as that myself.”
McCarrick, who has six
younger sisters, has lived in
Throggs Neck for most of his
68 years, except for the fi rst 4.5
years when he lived
jk at Washington Avenue
and 178 Street, and some of his
20s in City Island. But even
when he lived up the Sound,
he stayed connected to the
Irish community in Throggs
Neck, attending Sunday Mass
at the St. Frances de Chantal
parish, where it’s still easy to
fi nd him.
At the church, he is a part
of the choir and Holy Name
Society, and he writes the
newsletters and chairs the
blood drive. He has been the
recording secretary for the
Throggs Neck Homeowners
Association for more than
two decades and is a member
of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
His mother and father,
who met in New York after
both immigrating from Ireland
in the late 1940s, joined
family members who had
already come to the United
States for better fi nancial opportunities.
His father ended
up becoming a bus driver,
and McCarrick thinks Michael
Quill’s infl uence as cofounder
and president of the
Transport Workers Union
had something to do with it.
“Because Quill was Irish,
I think he was able to contract
other workers who were also
Irish,” McCarrick said. “I
think ethnic groups tend to,
out of necessity or just naturally,
congregate among
themselves for the most part.”
CHERICO REAL ESTATE
718-653-2699
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M 4 MAR. 11-17, 2022 BTR
McCarrick, who works as
an IT specialist at Canon, has
been to every Throggs Neck
St. Patrick’s Day parade, either
marching or stationing
himself by the grandstand on
Tremont and Harding avenues
with his Canon camera in
hand to capture the event.
But over the years, he has
noticed younger Irish Bronxites
moving to Rockland
County or Connecticut.
“I’ve wondered myself, are
people giving up on the Bronx,
or on the city, or not?” he asked.
He fi nds comfort, however,
in both seeing younger generations
that do stay around, and
knowing that those leaving are
spreading their Irish Catholic
values to other communities.
Lucky for him, his three
children, all in their 30s,
have stuck around the Bronx.
His two sons are part of
the International Union of Elevator
Constructors bagpipe
and drum band, which will
be leading the parade this
year, leading their father’s
horse-drawn carriage — even
though McCarrick insists he
doesn’t mind walking. His
daughter is a math teacher at
Fordham Prep.
McCarrick watches his
children attend Mass with
his grandchildren, and sees
them embrace lifelong connections
with relatives in Ireland.
“They revere their Irish
heritage,” he said of his offspring,
a ripple effect of his
own admiration of his parents’
culture.
Jack McCarrick watches St.
Patrick’s values pass through
younger generations
Jack McCarrick, a Throggs Neck St. Patrick’s Day parade grand marshal, with sons Brendan (left) and Andrew
in Sligo, Ireland.
Mail: Bronx Times
3604 E. Tremont Ave.,
Bronx, NY 10465
To Subscribe: (718) 260-4595
General Phone: (718) 260-4595
General Fax: (718) 518-0038
News Phone: (718) 260-4597
News E-Mail:
bronxtimes@schnepsmedia.com
Sports Phone:
(718) 260-4597
Sports E-Mail:
bronxtimes@schnepsmedia.com
Display Phone:
(718) 260-4593
Classified Phone:
(718) 260-2500
Display/Classified E-Mail:
bronxtimes@schnepsmedia.com
Bronx Times Reporter (USPS#730390) Copyright © 2022
by the Bronx CNG LLC is published weekly by Bronx
CNG LLC, 3604 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465.
52 times a year. Business and Editorial Offices: 3604
East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465. Accounting
and Circulation Offices: Bronx CNG LLC, 3604 East
Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465. Call 718-260-2500
to subscribe. Periodicals postage prices is paid at New
York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices One Metrotech
North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Postmaster: Send
address changes to Bronx Times Reporter, One Metrotech
North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201
A Trusted Name In The Community For Over 50 Years
CHERICO REAL ESTATE
ONX, NY
link
link
link
link
link
link