By Bill Forry
Executive Editor

Stories flowed, good-natured jabs were at the ready, and salutes to family members— both living and long-gone, but well-remembered— were in steady supply last Friday (Oct. 23) at Dorchester’s John F. Kennedy Presidential Library for the 16th annual Boston Irish Honors luncheon.

The 2026 honorees— retired US Army Brig. Gen. Jack Hammond, entrepreneur and Irish Cultural Centre president Martina Curtin, Episcopal minister Rev. Thomas B. Kennedy, and his son, Boston Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy— were lauded for their careers and contributions to the region’s Irish American communities in front of an audience of about 300 guests.

The gathering was convened by The Reporter’s sister publication Boston Irish and benefits the Edward W. Forry and Mary Casey Forry Foundation for Community Journalism, which supports sustainable news gathering in Boston and opportunities for young journalists. 

Maureen Forry-Sorrell and Hon. Linda Dorcena Forry served as the co-hosts and emcees of the program.

Former state representative and president and CEO of The New England Council James T. Brett, himself a 2014 Hall of Honors inductee, introduced General Hammond, a decorated Army veteran who leads Home Base, the Mass General Hospital and Red Sox initiative dedicated to supporting veterans and military families.

Brett recounted a recent encounter with an Uber driver, a Ukrainian man who was seriously wounded in battle while defending his home from Russian invaders. The man shared with Brett that Home Base had helped him make a new home here in Boston.
“I would not be where I am today without the help of Home Base,” Brett recalled the man telling him.

Hammond, who said Home Base has sent teams to Ukraine to help develop programs there, devoted much of his remarks to his own family's immigrant roots. His grandfather arrived in Greater Boston from Ireland in the 1890s, lost an arm in a railroad accident, and went on to become a lawyer and Cambridge political leader who helped launch the late Tip O'Neill's career.
Hammond also recalled the example of the late Boston business leader and philanthropist Jack Connors, who once told him over hot dogs at Sullivan's on Castle Island that “we are all put on this earth to help one another.”
That philosophy, Hammond said, has guided his work in the military, during the pandemic when he helped lead the Boston Hope field hospital, and at Home Base, where veterans and military families receive treatment and support.
“Someone needed help. Someone made a call and people came together,” Hammond said. “More than a century after my grandfather arrived, that instinct is still alive and well in this city.”

He said he hoped to pass that same sense of responsibility to his grandson, Wyatt. “Someday I hope he'll understand that the most valuable thing he inherited was a responsibility to help others,” Hammond said.
Ireland's Consul General in Boston, Síghle FitzGerald, introduced Martina Curtin, a native of Ireland’s County Clare who arrived in Boston in 1999 and built a successful home health care company before becoming the first woman president of the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton.
Curtin described the occasion as “the Oscars of Boston for me.”
She recalled growing up as the eldest of 11 children on a farm in Kilshanny, the village where her parents instilled a powerful work ethic. After migrating to Boston, she launched her home care business at her kitchen table, relying on dedicated caregivers and a willingness to tackle challenges as they came.
“I didn't have it all figured out, but I surrounded myself with good people,” she said. “We got through the hard times together, usually with me saying, 'Don't worry, we'll figure it out.'”
Boston, she added, had given her far more than professional success. “Here, your friends become your family,” she said, crediting her husband Craig Carlson for helping to support her career objectives.
The afternoon's final presentation was a family affair as siblings Sarah and Jamie Kennedy introduced their father, Rev. Thomas Kennedy, and brother Sam. The elder Kennedy, whose career included 21 years in Episcopal ministry, 19 years in banking, and more than five decades of volunteer leadership at Sherrill House in Jamaica Plain, expressed particular pride in sharing the honor with his son.
“We make a living by what we get and we make a life by what we give,” he said, quoting a familiar maxim that captured the gathering's spirit.
Sam Kennedy, who has spent 25 years with the Red Sox organization, entertained the crowd with the unlikely story of how his Episcopal priest father obtained a clergy pass to Fenway Park— despite a program originally intended for Catholic priests.
The pass, renewed annually for decades, helped inspire his lifelong devotion to baseball.
“It all started with an Episcopal priest, a piece of Trinity Church stationery, and what may have been the longest running clergy pass loophole in baseball history,” Kennedy joked.

The Kennedys all saluted Tom’s wife of 62 years, Joanna, seated nearby, who was credited as the family’s “real star.” Said Tom Kennedy: “What a blessing she has been beyond measure A friend, a wife, and a mentor.”

Sam’s closing words were directed squarely at his father.
“Dad, you have given your life to your family, your faith, and this Boston community,” he said. “And in a small but consequential way, you gave me the Red Sox.”

The celebration concluded with a prayer from Dorchester's Father Jack Ahern, pastor of Saint Gregory parish. 
“Today we celebrate all that is Irish and we acknowledge the special lifetime achievements of individuals who exemplify the very best of our Irish values, legacies and traditions,” Rev. Ahern said. “We honor and celebrate their many exemplary endeavors and the profound impact they have had in our communities and Commonwealth.”
He added: “In many ways, our honorees have remained connected to their Irish roots and honor their forebears by exhibiting compassion, respect, and generosity [toward] people of all backgrounds and circumstances.”

The luncheon event was co-chaired by Bill Kennedy and Marty Meehan, both past honorees. Sponsors included the Red Sox, Stephen Hendrickson, Senator and Mrs. Paul Kirk, and Cyndy and John O’Hara.  Other key support came from Eversource, Meet Boston, HYM Investment Group, Needham Bank, State Street, Eastern Bank, National Grid, Suffolk Construction, the Boston Irish Tourism Association, and William M. and Astrid M. Steul, among others.