Many an Irish immigrant has come to this shore and realized the Irish American dream of practicing their faith, raising a family and seeing all their hard work produce a life far beyond what might have been possible had they stayed at home. Many became rich and famous, legends beyond Irish American enclaves worthy of books and stories in the mass media. And then there are a select few whose riches and accomplishments must be measured by very different means when that final chapter of their lives is written. Such a man was Joe Madden, from Portumna, Co. Galway who died on November 14, 2008 at the age of 70 and whose life was celebrated at a massive wake and Mass of the Resurrection in Yorktown Heights last week. Madden, who emigrated to the U.S. almost 50 years ago in September of 1959, was very well known and regarded in the greater New York metropolitan area as both a carpenter by day and a musician by night. On Saturday evening, November 8, shortly after putting the finishing touches on his remodeled master kitchen in the Yorktown Heights home that he and his wife Nellie (Helen) bought 30 years ago to rear their seven children in the country, he suffered a tragic nocturnal fall on their stairway. His neck and spine were severed and he would lay immobilized in Westchester Medical Center for a week, conscious and aware of his condition but unable to move his body below the neck even after two extensive surgeries. The Madden siblings (Brendan, Joanie, Joe, Patrick, Bernadette and Kevin) surrounded the old man and his bride of 45 years, Helen Meade from Miltown Malbay for those six intense days and nights where the grimmest realities were balanced with so many happy memories and appreciation for the patriarch who had built such a wonderful life for them all. With hopes fleeting, it was time to say their final goodbyes, aware that Joe had given all that he could and his time had run out which he and the family bravely witnessed and accepted together. When Joe Madden left us around 6 p.m. on Friday the 14th the shock waves and sadness radiated around the world online and by phone to his many friends and relations in the U.S., Great Britain and Ireland. On Monday, the Madden family was fortified by family from Ireland (Joe's brother Brendan and sisters Delores, Mary and Pearl along with Helen's sisters Theresa, Mary and Kathleen) for a one-day wake at Clark's Funeral Home in Yorktown Heights. From 2 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. nearly 4,000 people showed up to pay their respects, patiently waiting in long lines inside and outside the funeral home, probably the largest crowd the funeral home ever experienced. On Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. a Mass of the Resurrection took place at St. Patrick's Church literally next door to the Madden household. A thousand people filled the pews of the modern church for the service, concelebrated by old Galway friends Monsignor Charles Coen (Woodford), Fathers Jack and Eugene Boland (from Eyrecourt) and Father Sean McDonnell from Mayo, who is the local Comhaltas Chaplain. Coen, who often shared many a musical stage and session seat with Joe down through the years along with his flute-playing brother Jack (who taught Joanie the whistle and flute in the old Woodlawn neighborhood), offered the pastoral eulogy in his usual inspirational and uplifting manner. As a young deacon, he baptized son Patrick and officiated at daughter Bernadette's wedding, and at 75, five years older than Joe, now having the "privilege of presiding at his funeral, a privilege he was willing to forego," a sentiment shared by all of the congregation spread throughout the semi-circular church. Father Charlie, as most of us know him, reminded us of those basic Christian tenets that Christ died on the cross to redeem mankind and that his Resurrection would give us immortal life. He deftly drew a parallel to Joe's masterly skills as a carpenter and builder and also a musician. "Joe was redeeming nature with his use of stone and lumber to build a house and he could take sound from the bellows of his accordion and redeem it and bring music to the people who received it with such joy as they were dancing or listening. These are sacred things and gifts from God" meant for man's use and to honor God when his creations are utilized. In that vein, a mighty orchestra of Irish traditional musicians and majestic signers were liberated from liturgical constraints for the service where so many came to give back to Joe Madden some of the pleasure he shared with us, and they did so in a respectful and oh so reverent manner. Not surprisingly, many of the top traditional musicians from New York and elsewhere were on hand, including long-time friends Mike Rafferty, Martin Mulhaire, Mattie Connolly and Felix Dolan, and box players Billy McComiskey, John Nolan, Jimmy Keane and John Whelan, and fiddlers Brian Conway, Liz Carroll and Marie Reilly among others. Broadway tenor Ciaran Sheehan served as the principal cantor for the service with appropriate solemnity. Deirdre Connolly, a one time member of Joanie's Cherish the Ladies ensemble, whose voice was "discovered" at a family barbeque party, contributed "Amazing Grace" and the spiritual "Go Rest High Upon the Mountain." Another vocal discovery many years before by Joe Madden was that of Ennistymon native Guss Hayes, whose entry into the music business from construction came courtesy of an invitation into the Joe Madden Orchestra, a hiring hall for many grateful musicians for many years. Guss delivered one of the most beautiful and stirring renditions of "How Great Thou Art" you will ever hear, with every note carrying high praise for his former friend, employer and landlord. The last singer would be Mick Moloney, who all those many years ago perceptively noticed the musical trending of fathers and daughters in Irish traditional music in America that gave rise later to Cherish the Ladies. Singing Bill Caddick's "John of Dreams" filled with rich imagery of passing from this life to the next appropriately signaled that our friend Joe was at rest now and his suffering was over. This impromptu "Joe Madden's Orchestra" paid the final compliment to the prominent band leader and traditional musician as his coffin was carried out with one of those elegant Galway waltzes he was famous for and a blast of reels for good measure and all at a tempo that would keep him at rest. Speaking on behalf of the family, son Joseph, a vice president in the public relations department of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, told of the trying days of the previous week and the struggles that everyone endured since the accident. Between the tears and the laughter, there was a constant message of pride and love that passed back and forth from the stricken head of the family, his wife and partner and the family they produced. As a father he worked day and night and gave a solid example to all his children each of whom became successful beyond his dreams. Joe Madden was very proud of all his children and couldn't do enough for them, and the feeling was mutual from the siblings for the father and mother. Five of the seven have families of their own, with 13 grandchildren, and Joanie is kept busy keeping five other women on the road in the hard-working Cherish the Ladies group as Joe passed on the band leader's baton to her. The service would not have been complete without a personal musical tribute from Joanie Madden, so there wasn't a dry eye in the church after she played the air "Sliabh Geal Gua" as the Mass was drawing to a close. After a large procession to and from the wooded Rose Hills Memorial Park in Putnam Valley for the burial service, many people returned to Murphy's Pub in Yorktown Heights where more tears, laughter and tunes were shared in Joe's memory. Food and drink were generously extended to a large crowd who even got to sample in advance tracks from the potential CD that Joanie and Joe laid down last June in Charlie Lennon's Galway studio at the conclusion of Joe and Joanie's last musical trip to Ireland together. In one of those peculiar twists of fate, it looked like the final sendoff for one of the finest gentlemen and musicians to ever come over this way from Ireland included some last rounds on Joe. It seems like a pension check from Ireland that Joe never thought he would see arrived in time for him to look after his family and friends one more time. I can just see him smiling away (no need for the "sweat rag" now) in the center of that heavenly ceili band now with Jim Coogan, Sean McGlynn, Joe Cooley, Kevin Keegan all playing away on their accordions. Father Jack Boland remarked at the Mass at St. Patrick's Church that everyone could write a chapter in a book about Joe Madden. The final chapter would have to be about that last day above ground. I am not sure that the Patron Saint himself could have arranged a more spiritual Mass for this son of Erin. He may have been a regular Joe to all of us, but his story is really what the contributions of Irish America are all about and it was lovingly expressed by all his family and his friends with no need for embellishment. It was a privilege to have experienced it and to be a friend of Joe Madden who will be missed but never forgotten. Another sad footnote to relate in the passing of Johnny Cronin from Killarney, another box player who lived in New York for a while before returning to Ireland with his wife Aileen (from Knocknagree) and their three children Roisin, Hannah and Orlaith. He passed away on Saturday, November 22 and was laid to rest on Tuesday in Aghadoe in Killarney.