When Rosemount native John F Keane arrived in Seattle in 1978, he brought his love of the GAA to the West Coast city where he formed the Seattle Gaels club.

As part of one of Westmeath's most famous GAA families, it's no surprise to discover that Seattle-based John F Keane hasn't lost his huge passion for Gaelic games and all thing Irish, despite being domiciled in the US since 1967.
For most of that time, the Rosemount native has lived in Seattle where he has been continuously involved as an officer and active member of nearly every Irish organisation, including the Seattle Gaels GAA club which he established in 1979. He is also a columnist who writes a monthly column on Seattle's Irish activities for the Celtic Connection newspaper. In addition, he publishes a monthly email newspaper for over 5,000 members of Seattle's Irish community and, in 2007, produced a pictorial history of the Irish in Seattle titled 'Irish Seattle'.
Born in 1942, John was one eight brothers to wear the black and amber of Rosemount. The best known of the Keane siblings was George, who is regarded as one of the finest forwards Westmeath has ever produced. After winning Sigerson Cup medals with UCD in 1959 and '61, he played for the Lake County for over a decade and lined out at left corner forward on the Leinster team that won the Railway Cup in 1964.
Another brother, Joe, who has remained on the family farm, played in a Leinster junior final and is father of current Rosemount midfielder Declan. Jimmy, meanwhile, is father of John, Cathal and David, who have all represented Westmeath with distinction. Cathal was full forward on the Lake County's 1995 All-Ireland minor winning team, while John, who recently retired from inter-county football, is the only Westmeath man to win two All-Star awards. He collected his first after starring at corner back in the historic 2004 Leinster championship triumph and was honoured for a second time in 2008.
Pat Keane was another talented footballer and is father of the former Disputes Resolution Authority secretary and current chair of the Central Hearings Committee, Liam Keane, who is a solicitor living in Meath. John F himself won a Feis Cup medal with Rosemount and was a regular on the team from 1961 until he left for the USA.
Like many of his generation, John F emigrated to the US in 1967. He was based in Florida initially before taking up a job with the Bell Telephone System in Detroit. He subsequently moved to Seattle where he continued working for the company. He retired from US West, now Qwest, in 1999, but has kept himself busy through his involvement in a host of Irish organisations in the Seattle area, including the Irish Heritage Club, the Seattle-Galway Sister City Association, the Society of the Friends of St. Patrick in Seattle and the Seattle Gaels GAA club.
He is also chairman of Seattle's Irish Week Committee which organises most of the major celebrations in Seattle surrounding St. Patrick's Day, including the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Irish Festival.
John also serves on the Board of Directors of the Matt Talbot Centre, a programme for the homeless in Seattle, and is involved in St. Thomas More Catholic Church. In 1995, the Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacific Northwest recognised John's contributions to Seattle's community-at-large by presenting him with its annual Pulakis Award. On July 4, 2010, he received Seattle's Spirit of Liberty Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to his adopted country while maintaining his ethnic heritage.
In January 2010, John was appointed by the Irish government to serve as Honorary Consul of Ireland in Seattle, with responsibility for Washington State.
The Rosemount native has been married for 36 years to Maureen, who is Detroit-born but has strong Irish connections as her mother hailed from Co. Louth. Maureen is also an author and nutritionist. John and Maureen have one son, Mícheál (aged 33), who is a political consultant who worked on US president Barack Obama's successful election campaign in 2008.
During his time in Detroit, John served as president and secretary of the Padraig Pearses GAA club, and also played full-back. They reached two North American senior championship finals in 1973 and '75, only to lose both. The 1973 team featured Offaly All-Ireland winners Kevin Kilmurray and the late Kieran Claffey, who was a brother of Liam Claffey, the proprietor of the Auld Shebeen in Moate.
Within a year of arriving in Seattle, John was the major force in setting up the Seattle Gaels GAA club. Despite Seattle's small Irish community, the club achieved quite a bit of success in the late 1980s and 1990s. Seattle's finest hour came in 1998 when they won the North American junior football championship. They also enjoyed similar success in hurling and ladies football.
"The club was slow to take off initially," remembers John, who never lost his midlands brogue.
"Seattle has a small Irish population compared to other US cities and we were relying mainly on second and third generation players. Then, in the late 1980s, a lot of young Irish moved over from the East Coast and the club got stronger as a result. In the 1990s, we started hurling and ladies football.
"We had some great times and were delighted to host clubs from San Francisco as well as the Canadian cities of Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver on many occasions. We also travelled to play them, although the distance involved posed obvious problems. It's 800 miles from Seattle to San Francisco and some of the Canadian cities are even further away."
He adds: "GAA had been played in Seattle going back to the 1920s, but it had become dormant before Seattle Gaels was formed. When (Eamon) De Valera visited Seattle in 1919, 6,000 came out to hear him speak."
While Seattle Gaels are still in existence, John laments the fact that they are no longer able to field a men's football team.
"The football team has fallen apart unfortunately. They still field in ladies football and hurling. The hurling is very popular with the locals and if it wasn't for them, it would probably be gone as well," says John, whose involvement with the club is confined to the role of spectator.
Despite being away from his homeland for nearly 44 years, Keane returns to Ireland regularly for visits and remains an avid Rosemount and Westmeath supporter. He took as much satisfaction from Westmeath's successes of the past 15 years as any fan, and is hoping there is more to come in the years ahead.
"The opportunity is there for Westmeath to reach this year's Leinster final," he says in reference to the favourable championship draw Pat Flanagan's charges have been handed.
"The past two years have been tough, but hope springs eternal and I'm looking forward to the coming season. Westmeath had a very good under 21 team last year which could have won an All-Ireland with a bit of luck, and that bodes well for the future. I wish Pat Flanagan all the best with the team."
On Rosemount's 2011 prospects, he continues: "They were much improved last year and reaching the quarter-final of the intermediate championship gives them something to build on this year. They have some nice players coming through and I'd expect them to go back up senior again in the next couple of years." Tweet

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