#fifth gen deegans

[oc-tingz]

Brian: mid-century mistakes.

In June of 1951, Brian Deaghan travelled to Jamaica for his friend’s wedding. After meeting and sleeping with a young waitress named Helena Griffin (1932-2020), Brian extended his trip to the end of August. Before he left, they had exchanged contact information.

Unbeknownst to him, Helena had fallen pregnant. On March 28th 1952, Felix Leroy Deegan was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He’s the only one of his paternal siblings with his surname misspelled.

In the meantime, Brian had fallen in love with an old friend named Bridget Hallisey (1930-), who had a daughter named Moira Hallisey. They got married in 1955, a year after their first son Patrick “Paddy” Deaghan was born. Followed by Philip in 1960 and Holly in 1965.

Brian died in 2015 of alcohol poisoning.

Felix: ‘temporary’ guest.

Due to familial conflict in the late fifties, Helena sent her son to live with his father is Bray, Co. Wicklow, in early 1960. Felix was eight years old at the time, and, having grown up in Kingston, there was a lot for him to get used to. What was supposed to be a two-year stay lasted for the rest of his life.

In 1964, Felix met an Irish-Japanese girl named Avaline Hatsuko “Beauty” O’Neil (1952–). They bonded over their shared love of science, ideas of futuristic technology, and feeling isolated from others. Felix is his father’s only Black child, and Aveline is the only girl in her family of eight children (her sisters are 10 and 12 years younger than her, respectively). They started ‘going steady’ together in 1966.

On June 4th 1968, at the ages of sixteen and fifteen (Aveline’s birthday is October 22nd), they had their first child together: a girl whom they named Cynthia Deegan. Aveline dropped out of secondary school, while Felix studied computer science in England from 1970 to 1974. They got married on September 9th, 1975.

The family moved from Co. Wicklow to the Rahoon Flats in Galway City shortly after they got married. From there they relocated to Oranmore, Co. Galway in 1984.

Their son Joshua was born on November 24th, 1973. Trevor Harley and Francine were born on August 5th, 1976. Eoin Baiste “Johnny” on April 13th, 1986. And finally, Sheila “Bobby” on July 25th, 1990.