Dessie Donnelly
"I was shocked that some guys would betray their own friends, fellow countrymen"
The Story
Dessie worked through a powerful teamsters union in Arizona in the early 1970s. He saw first-hand how the tensions and ill-treatment between workers factions could divide friends and countrymen. After witnessing this, Dessie honourably left his job - he would not gain another for a whole year...
The story continues...
Dessie Donnelly has simply got an enviable amount of life experience. He is a well-travelled and knowledgeable man. Dessie went out to the United States in the 1950s where he studied in a range of schools and universities in Minnesota, Cleveland and Indiana.
In his story Dessie alluded to the hardship that some people were having in the American west in the 1970s. He informed us that for him, personally, a job was of paramount importance as he had a young family.
He left Arizona in 1986 returning to Northern Ireland to open a bar. The bar was named Peter's Bar, but Dessie always referred to it as 'The Arizona Bar.' He retired in the late nineties.
Despite having spent much of his life in The United States, Dessie has a considerable knowledge of local history. You can listen to Dessie talking about the Layd Churchyard in Cushendall on Radio Ulster by clicking
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