In a few weeks, the United Irish Associations of West Hudson will march along in the big parade from Harrison Avenue, to Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard to Kearny Avenue. And this is a special one, without question. The first parade stepped off 50 years ago around this time. And equally special, the parade’s grand marshal will celebrate his 30th year as the president of the association — which is responsible for putting on perhaps the most important event all year long in Kearny, Harrison and East Newark.
Selected to serve this year’s parade as Grand Marshal is Kevin Quinn. He will be joined by two Deputy Grand Marshals — Michael Conlon and Ellen McGirr-Murray.
Before we get to the parade’s 50th anniversary, let’s take a look at the three honorees first.
Kevin Quinn
Quinn was proudly born to an Irish-Scottish American family in 1961, to mum Patricia and dad Rocky. He has a brother, Dennis, and a sister, Patti Rowe. Quinn attended St. Cecilia Grammar School and then went on to Queen of Peace High School, North Arlington, and attended college at SUNY-Albany.
In 1986, he married his wife, Michele Anne Corey-Quinn.
Then, 21 years later, Kevin and Michele welcomed their son, Patrick Liam Quinn.
His work with the United Irish has been extensive, including stints as a delegate, treasurer and parade coordinator. But it was in 1996 when he assumed the role of president, one he has held for the last 30 years. He was also on the board at the Kearny Irish American club for several years.
Quinn was a Kearny Little League and Hudson CYO basketball coach for many years. He is also a member of Montclair’s Police Athletic League’s exec board — and previously served as its president.
For 27 years, Quinn successfully worked for Verizon, retiring in 2023, after leading teams of as many as 200 employees. He also worked several other positions and was responsible for “developing new technologies” for the telecommunications giant.
Michael Patrick Conlon
Conlon is a Son of Erin. His paternal great-great grandparents, Michael and Bridget Conlon (nee Bierne) emigrated from County Mayo and his maternal great-great grandparents, Kyren and Maria Watson (nee Walsh) emigrated from County Kilkenny. The Watsons settled on Warren Street in Harrison and the Conlons settled on Halsey Street in Newark, where Michael was a tailor and Bridget a seamstress. The Conlons later relocated to East Newark.
Michael was born in Clara Maass Hospital, Belleville, to Thomas and Regina Conlon (nee Snodgrass) and was raised in Harrison, graduating from Holy Cross School, Harrsison, and Queen of Peace High School, North Arlington. He attended and graduated from Rutgers University, where he met his future wife, Martha.
Beginning in his youth and continuing today, Conlin is a long-time member, supporter of, volunteer for and parent of Scouts. His children Brianna and Aidan are Scouting participants. He has served as Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus Council 402, Harrison, and Faithful Navigator of the Msgr. Doane Assembly of the Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree, also in Harrison.
Among his most cherished experiences with the Knights, he says, is the annual Thanksgiving meal delivery effort. He has introduced his children to this volunteer activity, and they look forward to preparing and delivering hundreds of Thanksgiving meals yearly.
Conlin began a career in federal law enforcement in 1998 with the what was then known as Immigration & Naturalization Service, and then as a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations. He served in New York City, the Hudson Valley, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Newark and overseas temporary duty in Dubai, Unted Arab Emirates, and Doha, Qatar.
Conlon retired in 2024 as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge.
After federal service, he embarked on a new career as Vice President of Safety and Security for Extended Stay America hotels. He oversees security for more than 550 hotels in 44 states.
He is also a long-time supporter of Irish culture and arts.
Since 2012, he’s played bagpipes with the St. Columcille United Gaelic Pipe band. From 2016-2019, he played bagpipes with the MacMillan United pipe band. He founded the Homeland Security Investigations Pipe Band, which plays official events for the Department of Homeland Security to include Police Week observances, funerals, academy graduations and more. The band grown each year.
He played pipes for the Secretary of Homeland Security’s 20th anniversary commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in Washington, D.C. He has been a supporter of Irish Dance and his daughter Brianna’s efforts for the Ardmore Academy, Boyle School, Lenihan School and the Iona University Irish Dance Team.
Conlon has a long association with the United Irish Associations of West Hudson.
He served as a member of the parade committee for nearly 20 years. From 2006 to 2016, he served as parade coordinator, stepping down when he relocated to the national’s capital. Since returning to New Jersey, he has continued to serve as one of the pipers to the Grand Marshal and Deputies at the annual dinner-dance and pre- and post-parade activities.
Conlon married wife Martha (nee Moran) in 1998 in Orange and they later resided in Harrison.
Conlon’s father, Thomas, was the parade’s deputy grand marshal in 2009.
Ellen McGirr-Murray
McGirr-Murray was born Nov. 6, 1962, at West Hudson Hospital, Kearny. Raised in Harrison with her five siblings, Carol, Kathleen, Theresa, Bobby (late), Jimmy and two cousins, Mary Bridget and Willie, she attended Holy Cross School, Harrison, Washington Middle School, also Harrison, and graduated from Harrison High School in 1980.
She graduated valedictorian of Katherine Gibbs in Upper Montclair in 1985. She has worked for various CEOs, presidents and COOs throughout New Jersey.
She is married to John Murray and has three children: Lauren, Andrew and Adam. She is also grandmother to Jordan, Madison, Dyson and Delaney. She went back to school to pursue a second career in medical assisting at RETS Institute and graduated with the highest Academic Achievement Award in 2004. She says she enjoyed working in various medical disciplines including, orthopedics, pulmonology, dermatology and with primary-care specialists.
Her children were involved in sports from competition cheerleading, girls soccer, Pop Warner through high school football, lacrosse, baseball and basketball. She was a fixture at all their games, never missing one. She volunteered for the Booster Club and Competition Cheerleading fundraisers. She has been a member of the Harrison/East Newark Ladies Auxiliary since 1993, and eventually becoming a member of the Elks Club when women were permitted to join. She also joined the Irish American Ladies Auxiliary of Kearny in 2003.
In 2005, she was delegated from the Irish American to the West Hudson United Irish Associations as a trustee, where she remains a member now delegated from the Harrison/East Newark Elks. She has also volunteered for countless functions and fundraisers.
From her first year with the United Irish, she volunteered to be a Deputy Adjutant under aforementioned Parade Adjutant Mike Conlon’s direction for the annual parade. Eventually, she was offered the position of Parade Adjutant/Coordinator when Mike stepped down, making history and becoming the first and only women to ever hold the title.
After five years, she says it was time to hand the parade over to the younger generation and mentored Brian Wiltrout, current Parade Adjutant. Known as the “Irish Princess” of her family, her parents were born and raised in New York City. Her maternal grandparents were from County Armagh in Northern Ireland and Liverpool, England.
Her paternal grandparents were from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.