Helen moved to Quincy, Massachusetts in the late 60s with her husband Alick, whom, despite living only 30 minutes away from Helen in Ireland, she met in America. They put down roots in Quincy, where Alick started a contracting business and Helen worked as a caregiver.

Helen had 3 children, Sheila, Mary, and Patrick between 1967 and 1972. She "missed [her] family much more when they were little, it was hard to raise [her kids] without them." Helen believes that she and her husband being immigrants made her children "hard workers." Patrick, my father, helped out with Alick's contracting from a young age, moving his own plumbing company into the same office after graduating high school.

Today, Helen is still very connected with the Irish community in the Greater Boston area and back home. She frequents the Irish Cultural Center in Canton and has many friends who are also Irish immigrants. For Helen, church and religion (catholicism), which are very important to her, also tether her to her early life. She thinks of her cultural identity as "Irish American," although she says, "when I'm [in Galway] I'm just Irish."