History of the Father John Lynch Division

Three men, from three different parts of the country, find themselves in Roanoke, Virginia, at the same time and with the same goal: Start an AOH Division. The three men (in alphabetical order) are: Bill Barron, Dan Maloney and Kevin O'Neill.

In the summer of 2001, Dan Maloney, a shamrock degree member, moved from Virginia Beach to Roanoke. Dan asked around at churches and the local Knights of Columbus trying to find a local division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians – but there was none. Resolved to start a new division, he started collecting names in the spring of 2002.

Soon after this, Bill Barron, a tower degree member, moved from South Carolina to Roanoke. Bill also inquired about a local Ancient Order of Hibernians division and found it did not exist. Unbeknownst to Dan, Bill started collecting his own list of potential members. Bill and Dan met each other at a Knights of Columbus meeting, put their lists together and had more than the 15 potential members needed to start a local division.

During the fall of 2002, Kevin O'Neill just happened to be at the Richmond Highland Festival and met some of the Richmond Division 1 Ancient Order of Hibernians. Independent of Dan and Bill, Kevin also decided to start a local Ancient Order of Hibernians division in Roanoke. He got in touch with Bob Strutton, the Virginia State Ancient Order of Hibernians Organizer. Kevin received information packets from Bob, and started his own recruiting. Within two weeks, Kevin was introduced to Bill Barron. Bill was already in communication with Rafe Jones, the National Ancient Order of Hibernians Organizer, and had arranged for Mr. Rafe to come up to Virginia for an informational meeting.

After some initial difficulty in getting started, Kevin and Bill met with Bob Strutton and set a date and time for the Brian Boru team to induct the Father John Lynch Division of Roanoke, Virginia, as an official division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.