Izzy
I started my conversation with Izzy, Aine’s sister, with another invitation to talk about Aunty Lily. Izzy was just as effusive as Aine, and told the story of Lily berating the nuns with great humor.
"I won't tell you what Aunty Lily said, but she just went off on the nuns. You know, a thing that was probably unheard of in all of Ireland, let alone Donegal."
I grew up with music as a central part of each family gathering. Izzy always starred, with a time-tested comedic routine on the piano being the highlight of each event. Turns out, that routine came from Aunty Lily — the previous generation’s star of the family show.
"And actually, you know, Timmy, it was her that started this carry-on on the piano that I do now. It was her that started that."
"And I’m sure, did she mention about Uncle Jerry. Yeah, he was just a very very fine musician. You know, he played the violin, he played the drums, and you know the harmonica. You know that device they set up where you play it all at the one time, he did that."
"He was very very popular and a beautiful singer, and the thing I remember about Jerry more than anything else is that he could harmonize beautifully."
"Yes, she was a music teacher and a very fine musician, as Aquinas was too. I think she even performed on Radio Eireann, yeah yeah"
Izzy now carries a special reverence for the music that surrounded her childhood. Her voice rose into effusive prose as she recounted her experiences with music as a young child. That too translates into her time in the United States, as she cherished watching my mother and her siblings grow up with music and in turn bring up their children – my generation – in the same tradition. As I play music, I think of Izzy as an inspiration. She is someone special.
Along with Lily, two other family musical figures stood out. Uncle Jerry was a walking song, always playing different instruments and touring around Ireland with his striking voice. Delia, Aine and Izzy’s mother, charted a different musical path as a concert pianist, who could “play anything” and even appeared on Ireland's national radio.
"But we had music in our house growing up just from morning until night; we were just, you know, we had two pianos and any song that was popular, of course, we would sing it and harmonize to it and you know, just enjoy the song very much."
"When we all got together, as you know, for parties and everything, gosh we just sang and sang and sang to our heart’s delight, didn’t we? "