LEFT: Alongside Mayor John M. Picard, right, Irishman of the Year the Rev. Mark R. Jette pulls off the shroud unveiling the green street sign designating the Campbell Avenue side of City Hall “Father Mark R. Jette Square” for the next year at the city’s 19th annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration March 17.

 

Under picture-perfect skies, about 250 green-clad local and state dignitaries, residents, students and descendants of folks from the Emerald Isle joined the midday cultural celebration in honor of Ireland’s patron saint. Each year, the city names a community service-oriented resident Irishman of the Year.

While humbled by the honor, Jette, with his unique amalgam of humor and wit, still managed to tell a few hilarious tales of his recent “pilgrimage” to Ireland with a motley crew of city police officers and firefighters, as well as state Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven.

ABOVE: Jette pauses with, from left, brother-in-law Pete Dunn, mother Eleanor O’Sullivan Jette, sister Anne Dunn and Picard during a private reception before the event in the mayor’s office.

 

In addition to Picard presenting Jette an Irish flag and reading a mayoral proclamation citing him for his exemplary acts of humanity, the half-hour ceremony included the hanging of the rectangular sign outside City Hall’s Campbell Avenue entrance naming the square for Jette until next year’s event, when he will pass his title to a fellow person of Irish descent. Last year’s recipient was Mary Lyng Malenda. Jette, who was accompanied by his 90-year-old mother, Eleanor Jette, and his sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Pete Dunn, also received a jacket embroidered with his new title: Irishman of the Year. Bagpiper Thomas Dalton led the opening procession, followed by remarks from St. Patrick’s Day Committee member David Coyle, the master of ceremonies. Before an Irish blessing from University of New Haven Chaplain Martin J. O’Connor, West Haven High School junior Caitlin Morrissey, pictured right, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Council on the Arts President Paul Scanlon performed the Irish national anthem, followed by a greeting from Picard.

 

Jette, 63, a third-generation Irish-American, has served as chaplain of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in New Haven and Meriden, and is a member of the Irish-American Community Center in East Haven. The 2002 grand marshal of the Meriden St. Patrick’s Day parade, he was named Irishman of the Year in 2005 by the West Haven Elks Lodge 1537.

 

For most of a decade, Jette has served at St. Lawrence and St. Paul churches. He also served at St. Joseph and St. Mary churches in Meriden from 1979 to 2002 and St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Hartford from 1972-79. In 1999, Jette spearheaded a youth basketball exchange between Meriden and Wicklow, Ireland. Having been to Erin as a goodwill ambassador on at least 25 occasions, Jette, an avid golfer, has the distinction of playing more than 100 courses there. He is also a frequent host to visiting Irish friends. Jette was born in Waterbury in 1947 to Norman Jette and the former Eleanor O’Sullivan, whose great-grandfather, Patrick O’Sullivan, came to America in 1864 from the city of Tralee in the county of Kerry, Ireland, “for economic reasons and to start a new life.” The second of six children, Jette was raised in Waterbury and graduated in 1964 from Sacred Heart High School. Though his French Canadian father died in 1999, his mother still lives in the Brass City.

 

Jette’s life of Christianity began in 1966, when he earned an associate degree from St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. He followed in 1968 with a bachelor’s in philosophy and a master’s in theology four years later, both from St. Bonaventure University in New York. He was ordained as a priest in 1972.

 

LEFT: Picard reads a proclamation recognizing Jette for his meritorious humanitarian deeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT: The Police Department and West Shore Fire Department emerald societies, sporting green berets and sashes, stand at attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT: Council on the Arts President Paul Scanlon belts out “Soldier’s Song.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT: New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Queen Lindsey Stamp and Mary G. Carter, West Haven’s 2000 Irishwoman of the Year, join the scores of well-wishers bedecked with shamrock-laden garb at City Hall Square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT: Singing “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” St. Lawrence School students congregate en masse in support of Jette, pastor and priest director of St. Lawrence Church, who runs the Catholic parochial school.