Irene Robertson McAloon

Irene Robertson McAloon was born on Jan.1st 1951 in Renfrew Scotland. Anyone who has been to Scotland on Jan 1ST knows that they REALLY celebrate the New Year there. As her mother told it; after she was born at home Irene’s Grandfather managed to set fire to the chimney. The fire brigade arrived, who had obviously also been celebrating the holiday, carried out mother and new born daughter in a blanket, singing the latest song on the hit parade “Irene Good night Irene”. Her mother swore if the baby survived the night, she would call her Irene. At age 3 along with her Mother Mary & Brother James Robertson she sailed on the SS Franconia to New York to join her father Robert “Bobby” Roberson who had immigrated 1 year prior. Her mother recalling the trip would say the ship was falling apart, (they scrapped it after that voyage), it was winter in the North Atlantic and everyone was seasick except for Irene who was running around the ship, talking to everyone and having a good old time. One time she found her in the toilet “cleaning” it up saying “This place is filthy Mammy.” Irene subsequently grew up in Geneva NY & later Rochester NY. She Graduated from Alfred University where she majored in Accounting. She found it hard to get hired by Companies in Rochester at one point she even offered to start in the mailroom until finally one Hiring Manager told her they didn’t hire women in their accounts dept. (This was the early 70s when they could get away with that kind of thing.) It turned her into an advocate for women's rights for the rest of her life. She then applied and was accepted by the Internal Revenue Service as a Revenue Officer. Her Dad often joked that the most dreaded call in America was “Hi we’re from the IRS and we’re here to help you with your Taxes.” After Training in NY City, Irene started her service in Syracuse NY as a Revenue Officer. She loved the job and her co-workers but the winters in upstate NY finally got to her and she applied for and got a transfer to New Orleans.

Irene found life in Big Easy much different from Upstate NY. She soon made lots of friends, one in particular who is still a dear friend. (You know who you are.) As a young woman who loved to dance she found lots of opportunities to do so in Fat City area where she lived. Her “beat” in New Orleans was the French Quarter & surrounding area and she often wondered if that was deliberate on her employers’ part to see if she could handle a tough assignment. She could. Also her male colleagues would refer to her as “The white Chick with the black name.” Such were the times. However Irene’s life was to change dramatically. Going on a blind date she met and eventually married John McAloon. He knew all her family having relatives himself in Rochester, but had never met her as she was away at college at the times he was there. When she departed for New Orleans not knowing anyone in the City, her Dad had given her John’s contact information as someone who at least would know who her family were and who shared her background. She later would joke how her Dad set her up on a blind date & she expected someone more his age to turn up. She was pleasantly surprised when this guy with long hair and mutton chop sideburns wearing flared pants and a NEHRU jacket turned up. What turned out to be a 45 year marriage followed and the couple settled down in Kenner LA. Soon after came the birth of their first child Margaret Mary or Maggie as the family call her. During this pregnancy Irene decided it was time in her life to become a stay at home Mom, so she quit the IRS for the next 7 years. Her second child Michael James was born in Slidell LA 2 years after Maggie to complete the young family. At this point with John working Offshore Irene decided if she was to be a stay at home Mom, she’d be one in the place she loved to go on vacation. So the family moved to Pensacola FL.

Maggie & Michael pretty much grew up on Pensacola beach where Irene would take them every morning. She said it was because the waves drowned out Michael who started to talk at an early age and never stopped until he reached puberty. With John gone for months on end Irene also became quite the handywoman around the house. Fixing whatever needed fixing, even installing ceiling fans at one point. Being Pensacola there were many Navy families in the area in similar circumstances & Irene fame as a handywoman soon spread. One neighbor turned up in tears on her doorstep with children in tow. She had inadvertently left her keys in the house locking the door behind her. She had heard Irene knew about these things and could she help her. Irene demonstrated her burglary skill by gaining access to the house via a window she busted in. The neighbor was very grateful and stated she would board the window up until her husband returned from sea. Irene on finding he would be gone for nine months wouldn’t hear of it and promptly replaced the window herself. This was a happy time for the family. Irene started working Real Estate part time and gained both Florida Real Estate & Mortgage Broker Licenses specializing in Rental Property. The family would rent various houses and condos on the Beach during the off season when John came home. Visitors from both sides of the family would visit. Irene’s parents Bobby & Mary would come down for the winter eventually moving to Pensacola themselves. It was a good time for everyone. However like so much in life it had to end sometime. In the early 80s the country went into recession, the Real Estate market collapsed, John was hospitalized with a back injury & Michael was about to go to Kindergarten. John and Irene decided it was time for one of them to get a regular job, so Irene applied to go back to her former profession with the IRS. The good news was she was immediately accepted, in fact she could start in a couple of weeks. The bad news was the job was in Phoenix AZ, 1600 miles away.

What followed was a frantic packing up, a garage sale including the sale of the second car and a camper, followed by a hurried journey west on I-10 to beat the movers to Phoenix.

For John still recovering from a back injury which was to plague him the rest of his life this was excruciating, but had to be done with the help of Ice packs & Advil. Speed limits may have been broken on this journey; in fact they were definitely broken in West Texas where he nearly overtook a DPS Officer. On seeing the Officer exit John promptly sped back up only to have said Officer come right back on and bust him. On explaining the circumstances the DPS officer let him away with a warning that the next time it would be a ticket and he reminded him how big the State of Texas was to traverse. At that point Irene became the designated driver until they reached New Mexico. Phoenix was eventually reached, a house quickly rented just in time for the moving truck with the furniture to arrive. Irene started work in the Tempe Federal Building two days later. Life in Phoenix was different for the young family. They quickly learned about triple digit heat & low humidity. Irene soon made friends in the neighborhood and office. Michael started Kindergarten, Maggie 2nd Grade and John retuned to working Offshore. Grandparents followed by moving to Phoenix themselves although at least for the winter months as Summer Heat was avoided. Irene’s co-workers were a lively group who got together after work for sports and social events. Maggie & Michael would later recall being at a sports event where they got booed when the “IRS Group” was introduced over the stadium loud speaker. Maggie & Michael joined what was to become a long period of their lives with the O’Maoileidigh School of Irish Dancing This had the side benefit of providing another social circle for their parents and Grandparents. Irene would later recall how she “Knew Michael Flattley when he was an American before he developed an Irish accent”. Feises (pronounced feshes) in other cities became a staple of family trips out of town to La, Denver, and San Diego etc. John & Irene knowing in all probability they wouldn’t stay in the West forever, decided to visit as much of that beautiful part of the country as possible. Family vacations included trips to Oregon, San Diego including Sea World, La including Disney Land, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Puerto Penasco in Mexico. Within Arizona the Grand Canyon of course both South & North rims, Flagstaff where John took Maggie & Michael to see snow for the first time, Tombstone & Tucson. Yes all were visited many times. Family came visiting including Irene brother James Sister in Law Frances and baby niece Fiona. John Sister Anne & Brother in Law Bryan came all the way from Australia on a visit. However all good things come to an end John was promoted from Offshore into the Houston office as Navigation Manager and once more the family was on the moving arriving in Houston TX in 1991.

Knowing that they would both be working inside the Loop, the family settled in the Spring Branch district. For John it was his first time commuting and as we all know Houston Traffic is not for the faint hearted! Irene worked initially in the Federal Building downtown. She would take great delight in showing visitors the bullet holes in the windows of the Federal Building as she drove by on I-45. (It’s a Texas thang!) She had to take a step down in Grade to make the transfer happen, but quickly got her old Grade back. She was offered a promotion to Management which she declined. As she put it, “I have enough hassle raising two teenagers I don’t need any more.” One side benefit of this was that she eventually got to work from home. Yes long before Covid the Federal Government, so slow in other areas allowed working from home under certain conditions. Maggie & Michael continued Irish Dancing joining the Houston branch of O’Maoildigh leading to Feises in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio & New Orleans. As the kids got older this was replaced, in Michael’s case with his love of drumming and in Maggie’s by High School Drill Team. This of course led to their parents involvement with the Texas Institution of Friday Night High School Football or Friday Night Lights. Since they were in separate High Schools, Michael in St Thomas High school band, Maggie in Northbrook High Drill Team, their parents often had to split the games between themselves. Irene quickly became a Band and a Drill Team Mom. As usual with her there were no half measures. She made and sold Mums for both High Schools as fund raisers. This did lead to an argument with one school about where the funds raised should go. The Principle wanting it for the football program, Irene wanting it for the Band. As usual, Irene won. This period sadly included the death of Irene father Bobby whom she idealized and always tried to impress. Her parent had followed her to Houston and she was there for both of them to the end. Family visits continued with Johns nephew Mick Dougan, nieces Mary her husband Paul & kids Mathew & Adam, niece Irene and her spouse Gordon all arriving over the years from Australia. From Scotland we had adopted niece Anne McInnis, John’s Cousin Margaret & her daughter Una and Irene’s Aunt Rose. Irenes house was a veritable United Nations during this period and all were welcomed.

With High School Graduations life for Irene took another turn to becoming a College Mom. Both her children attending Universities in the Dallas area Maggie at UT Arlington Michael at North Texas University in Denton. Most weekends would find Irene on the road checking up on them and making sure they were all right. Irene attended her first North American Celtic Supporters Convection in Vegas where another whole army of lifelong friends were made. Irene by this time deeply into Arts & Crafts delighted in making and giving away little gifts to all & sundry at these events. Mary not to be outdone by Irene starting knitting Celtic dolls to give away. One of these featured the great Henrik Larsson himself and one was presented to the great man himself for his son Jordon. Irene & her mother joined the local Y for water exercises where they both found another host of good friends whom they loved.

Again life took a major turn for Irene in 2003 when she was diagnosed with a form of leukemia called CML. This was to completely change her lifestyle. The IRS let her retire early with full benefits so Health Insurance was not an issue. She was allergic to the approved drug at the time Gleevic and in fact suffered from every side effect listed. Once admitted to MD Andersen Cancer Center things changed in a hurry. There she signed up for what at the time was a study drug. At the time it was unknown if it would be successful or if there were any long term effects. Irene feeling she had nothing to lose happily signed. As fate would have it the drug was successful and after several years the CML was in remission. The drug was later approved by the FDA. So blood cancer was beat but it left her with a host of other medical issues to numerous to list. This period also saw the weddings of her children and the arrival of her Grandchildren Ciara, Liam and Patrick & the death of her mother Mary all of whom she dearly loved. On Friday April 21st 2023 she was admitted to the ER in Memorial Herman Hospital where 20 years after her first diagnosis with CML having received the Sacrament of The Sick, she quietly passed away on Friday April 28th 2023 surrounded by her family. She fought the good fight to the very end which was her nature. She would not want us to be sad at her passing but celebrate a life fully lived & adversities fully faced with the courage of a Lioness.