IGSI has lost a good friend, Mary Choppa of Boston. Mary passed away suddenly on April 26 after a long battle with multiple health problems.

Mary was a key member of The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) and a central figure in creating the Celtic Connections Conferences, a joint venture with the Irish Genealogical Society International.

Launched in 2014, the biennial conferences were popular and successful. The first conference was held in suburban Boston; the next, in 2016, occurred in suburban Minneapolis; the third, in 2018, was back in suburban Boston. The 2020 conference was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mary's enthusiastic encouragement and good humor were constant and certainly evident in this photo from the 2018 conference. She will be sorely missed.

At the time of her death, Mary was still actively involved in planning the 2022 conference. She is listed on the Celtic Connections website as a "Call for Papers" contact. 

We extend our sincere sympathy to her family and many friends.