YOUNGSTOWN Irish honors due top man, woman

Both recipients have done extensive volunteer work in the Irish community.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Irish man and woman of the year will be recognized Friday at a Mass in St. Columba Cathedral on West Wood Street.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians selects one man and one woman each year who have contributed a significant amount of their time and talent to the Irish community. Candidates are nominated, then voted on by AOH members.
Eileen Porter will be honored by the Golden Rose Queen of Ireland Division of the Ladies AOH, and the Rev. John Lyons will be honored by the Joseph Nally Division 6 AOH.
Porter is the daughter of Regis H. and Helen M. Halley Coustillac. Her mother was honored as the 1995 woman of the year.
Porter is a graduate of Ursuline High School and Youngstown State University. She has been an AOH member for 13 years. She served as assistant AOH treasurer for two years and did volunteer work for Catholic Charities.
She has supported the Ulster Project annual luncheons, St. Patrick's Day luncheons and the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Volunteer work: Porter was co-organizer and past president of the Canfield Democratic Women's Club and past president of the Federated Democratic Women President Club. She is corporate secretary of D.J. Porter Co., a local commercial builder.
Father Lyons was ordained June 2, 1946, by Bishop Thomas Keough in St. Patrick's Church, Carlow, Ireland.
Father Lyons' first assignment in the Youngstown Diocese was as associate pastor of St. Ann Church in 1947. He also was associate pastor at East Liverpool's St. Aloysius Church and Austintown's Immaculate Heart of Mary Church.
He was pastor at Immaculate Conception, Wellsville, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, McDonald, before becoming the founding pastor of St. Joseph Church, Austintown, in 1966. He retired in July 1990.
Father Lyons has served the diocese on the clergy conference committee, the priests' senate, the diocesan Catholic Charities board, and was the first recipient of the Diocesan Outstanding Service in Catechetics Award.
A luncheon will follow the Mass in the nearby cathedral hall.