My Irish Eyes Are Smiling

It’s St. Paddy’s Day and as is always the case my thoughts turned to my Irish father, Victor William Farley. I lost track of my dad when I was a few years old and didn’t see him again until after I was married and had children. It was a pleasant reunion, however, and I greatly enjoyed getting to know him. Perhaps the highlight of our relationship was when we went to Ireland (I think in 1997), after he retired. It was one of the great times of my life, getting to know Dad while we visited our ancestral home for the first time. As we drove through the countryside, roamed castles, explored cemeteries and ate at pubs we discovered we were alike in so many ways.

My dad was an unusual man with a colorful past. At 15 he left home and tended bar in Chicago. Then he lied about his age and enlisted in the army in World War II. They kept him stateside so he went AWOL, not once, but three times I think. Exasperated, the Army sent him overseas, and I think he mainly served in India. When he came back he ran bars again in Chicago and Miami, sometimes for organized crime and sometimes his own. He was a very tough guy, and was proud of the fact that in all the years he ran “saloons” (as he called them), he always “handled his own business” and never once called the cops. I have heard stories about him handling his own business. Although he was a kind, good-natured and overly accommodating man, it was wise not to cross him, for he had an Irish temper and iron fists.

I think of him as a great servant to friends, family and strangers. Numerous times I observed him helping others in unusual ways that would never occur to me. Another highlight in my life was going to a Cubs game with Dad in 1998—my first at Wrigley Field—and watching Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa bash homers as they both chased Babe Ruth’s record.

So today I put on the sweater that I bought with in Ireland and we looked at the Irish photos and I put on my favorite album of Irish pub songs and reminisced and thought about Dad. And it was good.