☘️ Guns n Hoses Pipe & Drum Band’s “Going Home” Tribute To Margaret Mary O’Leary May ☘️

☘️ March 21, 2023 ☘️ 🇺🇸 🇮🇪 ☘️
After leaving Babcock Ranch and traveling to Fisherman’s Village in Punta Gorda I received a call from my wife informing me that my mother had passed away and that her long struggle with vascular dementia had ended. Fisherman‘s Village was the last attraction for my daughter Caitlin and her college friends on their winter break in Southwest Florida. Not looking to hover over them, I dropped them off near the shops and headed off in the opposite direction and took a walk down near the boats in the marina. Having given the girls a sufficient head start I went inside to look around. Lots of little shops and storefronts, definitely worth the visit. I purchased an ice cream cone, and as I walked out, I heard bagpipes playing! So I made my way over to where I heard them, and ran into a group of retired police officers and firefighters who belonged to the Pipe and Drum Band called “Guns n Hoses”. Retired FDNY Lt Kevin O’Neill of Ladder 35 in Manhattan filled me in, that members of the band come down on Tuesday nights, one hour before sunset to play, and they finish with Amazing Grace as the sun sets. The band also uses the venue to collect donations for the St Vincent de Paul food pantry in Southwest Florida. I approached Anthony Paolicelli, the retired Nassau County Police Officer who from my observations was in charge, and asked if he could pipe my mother home, to which he graciously excepted. I would like to thank the following band members who played “Going Home” so elegantly for my mother, who immigrated to America from Ireland at the age of 15 as Margaret Mary O’Leary aboard the SS America in 1952. Upon arrival in America she worked as domestic help for the Mattamore Family, which was married into the Moran family of Moran Towing/aka “The Irish Navy”. In addition to raising three children, Thomas, Margaret and Shawn she worked the wards as an aide in the NY State Psychiatric Hospitals Creedmoor and Central Islip for over thirty years, where she treated mentally ill patients with dignity and respect. All the patients loved my mother and nickname her “Maisie”. Once again I’d like to thank the following “Guns n Hoses Pipe & Drum Band”

Pipers:
Don Hussey
Mike Walsh
Kevin O’Neill
Larry Stewart
Larry Whittle
Heather Jovanelli
Sharon MacLeod
Chuck Marlow
Mike Meehan
Anthony Paolicelli
Drummers:
Bill McLean
Karen Whittle

for a fantastic tribute to my mother. Sincerely, Thomas J May Jr, Retired Firefighter FDNY Marine Co 9