By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
After a two-year pause because of the coronavirus, Keith Sweeney will finally get his celebratory day on St. Patrick’s Day.
Sweeney, an integral part of West Haven’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations as a committee member and participant, was named the city’s Irishman of the Year in 2020 and will now receive the honor as its 2022 recipient at the 29th annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration at noon March 17.
The West Haven St. Patrick’s Day Committee will fete Sweeney, whose grandparents hailed from the counties of Roscommon and Offaly, Ireland, by hanging a green street sign designating City Hall’s Campbell Avenue entrance as “Keith M. Sweeney Square” for a year.
Joan D. Connor, the 2019 recipient, will take home her sign at the start of the ceremony. Connor is now the longest-serving honoree in event history because of the twice-postponed celebration.
The “Irish Person of the Year” award is bestowed annually on an Irish resident or couple who personifies service in West Haven’s rich Irish-American community.
“I am humbled to receive this award following all the great Irish recipients before me,” said Sweeney, a lifelong Westie who will toast his Irish heritage with scores of his closest friends and loved ones, along with an array of shamrock-clad dignitaries and descendants of folks from Erin.
Accompanied by Celtic music played by bagpipers and drummers, the West Haven Police Honor Guard will escort Sweeney to the Campbell Avenue side of City Hall for his special recognition.
A corned beef and cabbage lunch will follow in the First Congregational Church of West Haven’s Fellowship Hall, at 464 Campbell Ave. opposite City Hall on the Green.
The St. Patrick’s Day Committee is co-chaired by 2009 Irishwoman of the Year Mary Lyng Malenda and 2011 Irish Couple of the Year Glenn and Joanne Conlan.
It includes the lifeblood of West Haven’s Irish-American society, such as members of the Irish-American Club and former honorees, as well as former and current city, fire and police officials.
“Keith Sweeney’s accomplishments are a testament to the determination, joy and hope of the Irish,” Mayor Nancy R. Rossi said. “The residents of West Haven join me in congratulating Keith on his well-deserved recognition, an event in the making since 2020.”
Sweeney, 68, hails from an ancestry whose legacy is stitched into the tapestry of the American fabric.
More than 200 years ago, countless Irish people, escaping the Great Famine, embraced the dream of a brighter future and departed the Emerald Isle for a new beginning in the United States. With indomitable spirit and unshakable perseverance, the sons and daughters of Erin embarked on a perilous journey to make their new home in a place of hope and promise, and when they landed on America’s shores, they shared the true treasures of their homeland: song and literature, humor and tradition, faith and family.
In the 1890s, Sweeney’s grandparents left the Emerald Isle in search of the American promise, settling in West Haven.
The youngest of five brothers, Sweeney grew up in a single-family home on Lake Avenue overlooking Lake Phipps. He attended West Haven schools and graduated from West Haven High in 1972.
Sweeney was married to the former Kathleen Johnson. They have two adult daughters — Erin Sweeney, of West Haven, and Shannon Sweeney, of Concord, Massachusetts — and two granddaughters: Etta Aylwin Seely, 3, and Nellie Kate Seely, 1, of Concord.
Sweeney is a member of the West Haven Irish-American Club and was its Irishman of the Year in 1989. He is a former member of the Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee.
Sweeney, a longtime member of the St. Patrick’s Day Committee, has participated in many wearin’-of-the-green celebrations in his hometown by leading dignitaries in the opening procession and presenting the colors as a member of the West Haven Police Emerald Society.
Rossi praised the civic-minded Sweeney for his dedication to the yearly St. Paddy’s Day event and the Irish-American community, saying, “Keith Sweeney’s Irish eyes have smiled on West Haven as a goodwill ambassador of our robust Irish-American society.”
At the event, Rossi will present him with an Irish flag and a proclamation citing his commitment to “sharing and preserving the culture of Ireland and the teachings of St. Patrick.”
Sweeney will also receive an embroidered “Irishman of the Year” jacket.
The Irish-American community in West Haven takes great pride in the St. Patrick’s Day traditions handed down from each generation. Every March 17, those of Irish birth or lineage honor the memory of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who brought the message of Christ to the Irish people nearly 1,600 years ago. Teaching the word of God, St. Patrick used the three-leaf shamrock, with each leaf representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The need to preserve their Celtic identity in the U.S. led the Irish to form the Hibernian Society, which held the first St. Patrick’s Day parades, and local organizations, such as the West Haven Irish-American Club.
The New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes & Drums will lead the event’s opening procession, followed by remarks by 2014 Irishwoman of the Year and state Rep. Dorinda Keenan Borer, D-West Haven, who is expected to serve as the master of ceremonies.
The Rev. Mark R. Jette, the 2010 Irishman of the Year, will offer an Irish blessing. Jette is the former pastor of St. Lawrence and St. Paul churches in West Haven and now serves Sacred Heart Church in Suffield.
Fiona Stewart, the queen of the 2013 Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade, will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Irish national anthem, “Soldier’s Song,” followed by remarks by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rossi.
Sweeney will then pull off a shroud revealing the rectangular sign.
Sweeney is best known for his decorated career as a West Haven police officer and detective. He served on the department for 11 years, starting in 1979, and was the recipient of several commendations.
Sweeney received the department’s Purple Heart and Medal of Valor, along with the Connecticut State Police’s Medal of Bravery, for gallantry in the line of duty while responding to an August 1988 mutual aid incident in which he suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg.
During his distinguished tenure, Sweeney also received the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association Award and the Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association Award.
Sweeney, a former member of the New Haven County Detectives Association, retired from West Haven’s finest in 1990.
He later served as an instructor at the Connecticut State Police Training Academy in Meriden and was an investigator at the state’s attorney’s office for the New Haven Judicial District, retiring in 2012.
Sweeney is a founding and charter member of the West Haven Police Emerald Society, was its Officer of the Year, and is a past president, trustee, quartermaster and treasurer.
He is a lifetime member of West Haven’s Elks Lodge 1537 and was its Elk of the Year in 2010. He is a past exalted ruler and has served as a trustee for nearly 30 years.
Sweeney’s propensity for public service included serving on the Board of Police Commissioners from 2016 to 2021. He also represented the 1st District on the City Council and served on the Democratic Town Committee.
Sweeney has given back to his community by coaching Conlan’s All-Stars — a girls hockey team in the late 1970s and early ’80s — and coaching and refereeing boys hockey. He has also volunteered at West Haven Hook & Ladder Company 1.
Sweeney is a former recipient of the Jimmy Fund award.