Before summer slips away entirely, you might revisit the latest issue of Irish Lives Remembered, always edifying and free.

What caught my eye was a reference to hereditary medical clans, including the O'Hickeys. (I married into the Hickey clan--although medical prowess has all but disappeared in our line.) 

For over 15 centuries, the O'Hickeys served as physicians to the O'Briens, early Kings of North Munster and descendants of King Brian Boru. The surname 'Hickey' comes from the Gaelic family names O'Caigh or I'Icedhe, meaning 'descendant of the healer'.

While I found no personal Hickey connections, the feature articles covered a variety of topics:

• Eamonn P. Kelly – St Brendan: The Seafaring Saint Who Found Paradise
• Brigit McCone – Irish on Ice: Arctic Explorers of Erin
• Fiona Fitzsimons – Shania Twain: the Celtic Pedigree of Canada’s Queen of Pop
• Brian Mitchell – Alexander Ector Orr: “Father of the New York Subway”
• Fiona Fitzsimons – ILR Interview: Sandra Delamere and Maeve Foreman on Dublin’s AIDS Crisis
• Helen Moss – The Diceman Cometh Home: Tracing Thom McGinty’s Wicklow Ancestry
• Katharine Simms – Saints and Scholars: the O’Hickeys and Other Hereditary Medical Clans
• Deirdre Powell – Kathleen Mary O’Rourke: Health and Fitness Pioneer
• Donna Rutherford – Cousins by the Dozens: Managing DNA Matches Without Losing Your Mind!
• Rob Flanagan Stieglitz – Chronology of a Chromosome 2: My Matrilineal Journey from Africa to Ireland!

Here's the link to the Summer 2025 issue.