BUFFALO, N.Y. — When you think of the Buffalo Irish Community, it is impossible to not think of Mary Heneghan. She was president of the Gaelic American Athletic Association, Chair of the Board of Directors at the Buffalo Irish Center, and owner of Tara Gift Shoppe on Abbott Road.
Heneghan was behind just about every Irish event you could imagine, including the reimagining of the Buffalo Irish Festival over the weekend on Buffalo's Outer Harbor. It was only fitting that her family announced her passing after mass to the thousand or so faithful who attended the festival.
Among the comments following news of her passing, "Mary did everything because it was in her heart to do the best for Buffalo's Irish community, for our Irish Center. She did it the way she thought best and she did it with love because she loved the Irish community."
Peg Overdorf of the Valley Community Association said "I think she preserved a lot of the Irish culture, with others, I know there were a lot of the old timers who were in there, old John Connelly, and Tom Johnson, right from Ireland. But I think she spearheaded them in the right direction and continued it."
Mary Heneghan died on July 31, 2022. She was 76-years-old.
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