Cornelius
Keane
The
third son of Pat and Bridget (nee O'Dea) Keane (see
Pat Keane),
Cornelius* (Connie) John was born on 2 March 1931. Being somewhat strong willed, Connie was
determined to quit secondary school at an early stage,
and was subsequently apprenticed as a carpenter. Upon completion of his
training, he joined with another
local tradesman, Danny Kennedy, and they constructed
a number of new houses in his native Kilnamona before emigrating to the U.S. in 1952
(the first emigrant from the family). He was employed in the U.S. in his cousin's, Bill (junior)
Hegarty, construction company.
Drafted into the U.S. army in 1954 (as was the norm at the time) he was deployed
to Germany for two years and reached the rank of Private First Class (PFC) before demobilization in 1956.
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Above Left: Connie, Aunt Gretta
and her son Fr Fred, 1958!
Right: photo
over is of Connie, Pat (Páraic) and
Matt (Mattie) taken at Pat's wedding in New Jersey in 1960.
Apart from Bride and Groom, Elizabeth and Connie, Mattie and Paraic,
on the back left is second cousin PJ
Morgan and on extreme right back is Michael Power, twin brother
to Amby Power (husband of
Philomena Keane); also seated on the left is Sheila O'Donnell, from Donegal
(fiancé, later married to Paraic Keane); other bridemaids are
unknown, perhaps left of Elizabeth is her sister! (photo from Br Willie Morgan's publication, see
here). All the 'Keanes' other than Connie returned to Ireland in
the early to mid-1960s after a spell of a few years in the US.
A charming, independent and spontaneously generous personality, Connie married Elizabeth Kiernan,
USA/Leitrim in 1959; they lived in New Jersey and they
had 4 children. Working for his cousin Bill Hegarty, he met with a building site accident in 1967 which kept him
out of work for much of the year. Following his last trip to Ireland in 1969, Connie died suddenly from coronary thrombosis on 7 November 1970 and is interred in New Jersey, USA (RIP).
Family: June Marie (1962,
married to Clarence Zirange with two children), Kevin (1964),
Robert (1966), Matthew (1969) and step brother Gerry Barca newspaper
reporter and author.
Left: U.S.
Army Regiment to which Connie was attached in Germany (part of a larger
panoramic photo), 1954-56. In this section PFC Connie Keane is fourth from the
left, middle row (recognize the regiment?).
Right:
Plaque marking Connie's grave
Cousins:
Kevin (son of Connie RIP), Damian
(Thomas), Declan (Willie
RIP), Kieran
(Philomena) and Robert
(Connie RIP) at a gathering of the clan in Ney York, 1997
Photo taken at Elizabeth's wedding June 1 2014:
From Left: Maureen (Thomas, uncle), Matthew, Philomena (Mena, aunt), Kevin and
Nancy (spouse of Brendan, uncle)
Connie's daughter (2014) June (Maria Keane) Zeringue
* Cornelius was a
traditional O'Dea family name
Webpage reformatted March 3,
2014