1999-00 Middie O'Malley (No 47)

Middie has written the following account of himself and at his request, it is posted here complete and unedited. 

Middleton O'Malley, known as Middie, the 47th Clan Chieftain 1999-2000.   On April 27th 1946, my mother Julia O'Malley-Keyes, (nee Holland), departed my family's ancestral home, Ross House, in Newport Co. Mayo where she and my father had been living. She was heading with all due haste (with me just dying to get out of her womb), for Shannon airport. On April 28th, against her doctor's orders, she boarded a plane and flew to New York City where she shoved me, her first of many children, into the light of a New York City morning at precisely 11:25 AM on April 30th. She hadn't even fully digested her last meal in Ireland, a medium rare steak with all the fixin's, and a pint of Guinness. I was kidnapped! As a memento of my Mayo gestation, she called me (seriously, she did), her "Steak and Guinness Baby." My great grandfather, Middleton O'Malley, owned Sea View House in Westport along with substantial holdings within the town. His history is a bit cloudy, occasionally questionable, and perhaps somewhat scandalous. But he was the one who made the money that propelled his sons onward and upward. Sometime in the early 1900's my grandfather Middleton O'Malley married an American heiress, his second cousin, Janes Burns Malley. They took up residence at Ross House, and a chateau, Castel Meretmont, in Biarritz where, post WW1 and WW2, my cavalry officer grandpa won numerous polo trophies. (He was also Captain of The Galway Blazers). In December of 1916, while at the front, he added his mother's maiden name, Keyes, to make his blatantly Irish last name sound more British. He did so to give himself a better chance of being promoted in the Caverly. It worked! Six months later he was promoted to Lt. Col! My father, Nial Edward Brendon O'Malley-Keyes, an Eton educated world traveler, gambler, writer, artist, and veteran of four years as a navigator on Swedish merchant ships during WW2, (survived being torpedoed twice), came to the USA about nine months after my birth. Apparently illegally which wasn't such a big deal in those days. But I am hoping against hope that ICE gets wind of this, and they deport me back to the Auld Sod where I shall once again take up a contented residence in the greater Westport area. There, I shall resume my twice weekly routine of having two pints of Guinness and two bags of KP peanuts, plus convivial conversation, at Moran's Pub on Bridge Street in Westport. During my childhood I moved with frightening regularity. My bohemian parents were on a transcontinental and international grand tour of life, and we were merrily dragged along with them to the next splendid experience. All eight of us children were merely byproducts of their sex life; viewers in the grandstand applauding their eccentricity. Nevertheless, they were kindly parents and very interesting tour guides who introduced us to endless cultural changes. As a byproduct of this mesmerizing instability, we were taught how to make quick adjustments to new realities and how to survive on our own. This peripatetic activity did nothing for us scholastically, but our nomadic lifestyle greatly enriched our understanding of life under a variety of conditions. One of the things my father occasionally mentioned was that Ross House was the center of our universe, along with bits and pieces about the heroism of his father and uncles during the First World War. There were also stories about the O'Malley heritage, we are direct descendants of Grace O'Malley's brother, and the meaning of Terra Marique Potens. I've lived in five or six countries and ten states, and in the process learned how to speak Spanish, German, and some French. During my younger itinerant years, I attended thirteen different schools in three different countries before winding up at the very bottom of my high school graduating class of 326 students. Bravo, Middie! It's been my pleasure to enjoy three distinctly different and successful careers including Air Traffic Control with the US Air Force at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, and then on the civilian side with the Federal Aviation Administration in the Los Angeles basin, Boston Logan, and as an ATC instructor at the FAA Academy. I also founded a nationally recognized Sales and Marketing Company, and I'm now involved with Residential Real Estate Sales in greater New Orleans. There have also been a few sidelines including being a Cape Cod shellfish warden, and an amateur stage actor. In addition to my real estate activity, I produce and host a well-received Jazz radio show that's streamed internationally. Have a listen here. I'm also a long-time professional voice talent. I've survived the emotional devastation of losing a beloved spouse to an out of the blue heart attack, a divorce, several attempts on my life by annoyed ex-girlfriends, outdueled cancer, had multiple joint replacements, and I stay two steps ahead of skin cancer, an unfortunate result of (once) being a blond haired, blue eyed Irish child in a country with a lot of sun instead of staying where my skin was happier under the clouds and rain of Mayo. While enjoying my stint as Clan Chieftain, I was living in Ireland in my cottage just outside of Newport. Being Chieftain was a genuine honor and a real gas. I loved organizing the entire event that was held in Newport and Westport. Members came from all corners of the globe, but the members who came from New Zealand were the most unabashedly fun loving of the lot. During my tenure I started, with the help of a Canadian Clan member, the first online O'Malley Clan website. Unfortunately, it was a bit too advanced for the time. I currently live in the greater New Orleans, Louisiana area with my lovely wife Wanda O'Malley, a New Orleans native who is also a very talented artist and a truly beautiful and kindhearted human being.

Middie as a young man

Middie donning the Chieftain's Cloak in 1999. Former Chieftain Maurice O'Malley assisting.

Handing over to incoming chieftain Eoin O'Malley

Chieftain Middie speaking to the AGM in 2000