My name is Jack. I live in New Jersey. As you can see my two lifelong passions have been biking and flying. The picture above was taken with my Beechcraft at the now defunct Manahawkin Airport in Ocean County, New Jersey.
Now I've moved on to my third passion, learning to read and speak the Irish language.
I make my home with my wife Vivian, shown above, and Golden Retriever, Oliver shown below in southern Ocean County, New Jersey.
This short biography is intended to convey a brief sketch of my family and our interests.
Oliver speaks Irish too. And what he wants to say to you is:
bhuf, bhuf,
bhuf, bhuf.
This photo of me is with an aircraft I'd love to own, a aerobatic biplane at a Reading Air show in Pennsylvania.
I have a background in Computer Programming, having worked as a Systems Analyst for over 20 years.
I also have a background in Education with certification on the secondary level from the State of New Jersey in 4 fields, 3 of them foreign languages.
Beginning at age six and going on for any number of years, I lunched with my grand-mother, Ellen MacSweeney, since her house was closer to school than ours. It was at these lunches that my interest in the Irish language was first nurtured.
She taught me the blessing and the Lord's Prayer as well as a number of phrases she had remembered from her childhood in Cork.
She would often recite Irish poetry from memory and teach me the verses.
I hope that this web site of mine conveys to you some of the beauty of the language I first learned from her.
Here I am at a pub in Sneem on the ring of Kerry during a recent visit to Ireland.
