33 Nieces and Nephews Hold Car Parade For Uncle's 86th Birthday

OAK LAWN, IL — With a little help from the Oak Lawn fire and police departments, John Haugh’s 33 nieces and nephews celebrated their favorite self-quarantining uncle’s 86th birthday pandemic-style, with a car parade down Keeler Avenue on Saturday.

Driving past John’s house in cars festooned with green streamers and signs, John and his bride of almost 50 years, Mary, stood on their front step as their mask-clad clan gathered on their front lawn. The parade was organized by John’s niece, Gail Ryan, who rounded up most of the cousins from Oak Lawn, Mount Greenwood, Bolingbrook and Roscoe Village up on the North Side.

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“John is a hard worker, he loves his Ireland and adores his wife, Mary,” Gail said of her aunt and uncle. "They've been so cooped up."

A native son of County Clare, Ireland, John immigrated to the United States in 1957, landing a job at the old High-Low Food Stores warehouse. He was there 17 years, before taking a job for the next 20 years on the loading dock for Roadway Warehouse.

“It was a physically demanding job,” Ryan said. “I’ve always remembered Uncle John as being strong as an ox.”

~ Video by Lorraine Swanson | Patch

The fifth of seven children, Haugh came over with three siblings, while the rest remained in Ireland. He has a sister who is a nun.

“Three siblings are gone, but four are doing really well,” Ryan said. “They got that Haugh gene, they have nine lives. My uncle was in the hospital with pneumonia before the coronavirus pandemic.”

He met Mary where everybody went to meet people during the 1960s, the Holiday Club Ballroom at 79th and Halsted Streets. John and Mary already have had to postpone their 50th anniversary party originally set for May at Gaelic Park to October, pandemic pending.

The couple never had any of their own children, but there were always nieces and nephews to spoil and send home. John and Mary were spoiling the next generation of 43 nieces and nephews by slipping dollar bills to his 5-year-old grand niece Maggie who came to celebrate her great uncle’s birthday.

“What a family,” Mary Haugh said, looking at her front lawn filled with social distancing relatives.

John danced a jig as family friend Matt McKee wailed a few tunes on his bagpipes. John claimed he was surprised, especially when an Oak Lawn fire engine stopped in front of his house on Keeler Avenue and blasted the siren.

“I thought they were coming to take me back to the hospital,” he said.

Need a bagpiper for your special occasion? Call Matt McKee, 312-282-4360.

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