On the job at 86, a Celtic Angel cares for the caregivers. Turns out she has her own story

WEYMOUTH − Early one wintry day in 2016, Joe Burke, a carpenter on his way to work, stopped at Dunkin' Donuts in Norwell for coffee and some friendly conversation with the older woman who opened the shop every day at 5 a.m.

Both had come to this country from Ireland, he from County Mayo, she from County Kerry, and they enjoyed sharing stories and reminiscing. Lately, Joe had noticed how the woman, Kate O'Sullivan, seemed worn down by the early-morning routine. She had worked at Dunkin' Donuts for 10 years.

On this day, he introduced a new topic.

"Kate, I've got a cushy job for you," Joe said.

A few days earlier, he had told his wife, Maria, about the Kerry woman who was almost 80 and worked at Dunkin' Donuts, arriving at 4:30 a.m., even in the middle of winter, driving from her home in Hingham.

"That's horrible," he said. "Can you do anything to help her out?"

Maria Burke, who emigrated from Ireland 34 years ago, founded Celtic Angels Home Health Care in 2005 in Weymouth. She is a registered nurse who continues to make patient visits while running the agency.

"At first I wasn't sure, but I thought about it," Maria recalled recently.

A few days later, Kate stopped by the Celtic Angels office to meet Maria. With their shared Irish heritage and caring ways, the two hit it off. Afterward, Kate wrote a note thanking Maria, saying she didn't think she could become a certified home health aide, passing a state exam, at her age.

But that wasn't the job Maria had in mind. She had gone over the different aspects of her agency and found a role for Kate.

Maria didn't have enough time to handle all the gracious touches the way she liked: sending messages of support, flowers, birthday cards, sympathy notes and gift bags to clients, their families and caregivers. Before Maria started her agency, she had worked for others and believed some patients didn't do well because their caregivers did not have the support they needed.

And that's how 7½ years ago, at age 79, Kate O'Sullivan came to work as the office support person at Celtic Angels, where she remains on the job today at age 86.

"Kate is an inspiration to all of us because we want to be just like Kate," Maria Burke said. "She's so kind, so hard-working, and when the caregivers come into the office, she helps and supports them and they all love her so much. When I'm out in the field, they all ask, 'How's Kate?'"

When Celtic Angel caregivers thank Maria for the cards Kate sends in Maria's name, Maria replies, "Kate is the angel that sends out all these cards and the flowers." Maria calls this all "part of God's plan."

For Kate, the job provides a sense of purpose and is restorative.

"It's amazing to me that I'm here," she said. "Three mornings a week, I get up, get dressed up and come here and they are very kind to me. The other day, I was very tired and thought, 'I wonder how long I can do this?' and by the end of the day I was like a brand-new person."

The Irish immigrants' experience in Boston

Kate O'Sullivan's story is one of hard work, determination and kindness. It is also a glimpse of how Irish immigrants who came to Boston in the 20th century were able to help one another start new lives. And in spite of the "No Irish need apply" hiring discrimination, Boston's established institutions were resources for some.

Kate and her family were boosted by people connected with The Parker House in Boston, Brooks Brothers, Metropolitan Life Insurance and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

And it is also a story that includes what Kate calls "the part that gets difficult . . . I was drinking myself to death."

Her struggle with alcohol addiction began in her 20s, and by her early 40s, her health, her job and possibly her life were in jeopardy. She credits her friendships at work, medical treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous with her recovery. She has been sober now for 44 years.

Kate grew up in Waterville, a little village in the southwest of Ireland, one of seven children in a very poor family. She was 8 when World War II ended.

Her father's brother had immigrated to America when he was 16, enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor and served in Germany. In April 1954, this uncle brought her older sister to Boston. In 1955, her father, 42, followed with Kate, who was 18. Her mother quickly sold their house in Ireland and arrived in Boston with the other five children, the youngest being 9.

Kate remembers landing at Buzzards Bay. Her uncle was nearby in Onset as the caretaker of the summer home of Glenwood Sherrard, who owned The Parker House in Boston. Sherrard helped her father, a skilled tailor, find a job at Brooks Brothers, a high-end men's clothing store in Boston. Her sister found the family an apartment in Cambridge and Kate soon had a job in the shipping room at S.S. Pierce grocery store.

"I got $32 a week and took $28 home, gave $25 to my parents, and I thought I had made it in America," she said.

Kate did well at S.S. Pierce, and after three years she took a job at Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. as a filing clerk. She went to night school to earn a high school diploma, learned shorthand, was promoted to secretary and advanced to preparing premium proposals. When she was 26, she took a job at MIT, where she became an administrative officer.

She was living with her parents, who bought a house in Cambridge, and was second mother to the younger children. By her mid-30s, she was the only sibling left at home. Her life in America had evolved into working long, late hours, often working two jobs, not dating and she said, "I fell victim to the disease of alcoholism."

The staff and students at the Center for International Studies at MIT tried to help. They thought that having her own apartment in Watertown would make her feel freer and happier.

"I had no clue about addiction," Marie said. "I just thought I was a bad person drinking too much."

In 1979, her supervisor at MIT drove her to Beech Hill, a treatment center in New Hampshire. Once she was back home, she resumed drinking, "sure there was no purpose in my life if I couldn't drink." A friend introduced her to Alcoholics Anonymous.

"I tried to stop drinking for seven years and I couldn't do it alone," Kate said. "Alcoholics Anonymous gave me a life I did not ever imagine.

"If I sit around the house, I start feeling sorry for myself, and that's dangerous." Kate goes to weekly AA meetings on the South Shore and has sponsored many others.

She heard a voice: 'You need never drink again'

She recalls the moment on Dec. 3, 1979, when she was in her office, counting the minutes until her next drink and heard a very strong male voice clearly say, "You need never drink again." She believes now it was her higher power.

"And I haven't picked up a drink since that day," she said. "I just knew in my heart I would never drink again."

At the MIT faculty club, she had met a professor, the late Ken Russell, who was raising two teenage sons alone with a Scottish terrier. All four became part of her life and their friendship survived her difficulties.

In 1994, she bought a house in Hingham that her Duxbury niece had found and remains grateful for the strong family support her nieces and nephews provide.

Kate continued working at MIT until she retired at age 62 in 1999. She didn't work for eight years, but when her pension was cut during the Great Recession of 2008, she found the job at Dunkin' Donuts.

Finding herself in a caregiving role at this stage in life feels right, she said.

"I was a caregiver since I was born because mother made us take care of the neighbors," she said. "This is an awesome job. I don't want to be sitting at home. I feel like I need to have a purpose."

When Kate needed surgery recently, Joe and Maria took her to appointments, brought food and took her shopping.

"I have had an incredible life," Kate said. "I've had so many miracles, and Maria is the biggest miracle in my life."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Celtic Angel Kate O'Sullivan, 86, finds joy in her Weymouth job