An Irish Goodbye: Meet Ruby Duane

Ruby Duane at age 20 during her sophomore year at The King’s College in New York City. || Photo courtesy of Ruby Duane

Ruby Duane, 16-year-old high school junior, walked into Madison Central High School in Madison, Miss. after two years of immigration preparation. Many of her credits didn’t transfer directly from her secondary Catholic school in Ireland, St. Mary’s. She walked into her English class, nervous to be in a school with both boys and girls. She raised her hand to answer her teacher with, “yes.” She was promptly reprimanded by the teacher that insisted that she must be addressed using “ma’am.” Duane’s Irish accent was obvious to those around her when she used the word “ma’am,” so she began to gloss over her Irish roots with the sound of an American accent. 

“I started realizing how much I actually stood out. Whenever I opened my mouth, it was obvious that I wasn’t from Mississippi,” Duane said. “I was so quiet and introverted, I didn’t like the fact that I stood out like a sore thumb.” 

Now, if someone was speaking to Duane, her Irish upbringing could be completely unidentifiable.

She is originally from Youghal (pronounced yawl) in County Cork, Ireland. At 16, she moved to the southern state of Miss. 

“It was a culture shock to move to Miss,” Duane said. “My mom convinced my brother and I that people there didn’t wear shoes.” 

Her hometown, Youghal, was a constant reflection of her life in Ireland. Commonly used in states like Miss., the word meant so much more to her than “you all.”

“Youghal is where we’re from, so to hear people say it all the time in the south was just weird,” Duane said. 

Now, four years later after her initial move to the U.S., Duane is a sophomore humanities major in the House of Margaret Thatcher at The King’s College. To this day, she reflects and misses many things about Ireland: the authentic fish and chips, the fire always lighting in the cold and wet air, and her “nanny,” or grandmother. 

Though she misses it, she is glad that she got out like many other young Irish students. Duane said that many of her friends, like her, chose to leave Ireland for higher education.  

“I miss home every day, but I know that for my future, I would have no opportunity there to achieve anything, unless it turns around miraculously, which I don’t see happening,” Duane said. “Our leadership is still very messy.”

Conflict in Ireland and England is ongoing, and Duane believes leadership has been consistently rocky due to England’s phantom responsibility over Ireland. 

When Duane was placed into the House of Margaret Thatcher at King’s, she was initially unbothered, but after talking to her grandparents who were disappointed, she began to get more frustrated. 

“She treated us really badly,” Duane said. “This woman, although she is an ironwoman, did not treat our country well or do good things for the Irish people. She defunded a lot of our programs and took a lot more independence away from us. She took a lot of money that we felt like we deserved and put it in other places.”

Though she doesn’t support Margaret Thatcher because of her Irish history, Duane doesn’t believe the house namesake should be changed. 

“I don’t associate her with the House of Margaret Thatcher,” Duane said. “I want to say no because I love consistency and I love our chants and values. The house is more than just Margaret Thatcher and who she was.”

Duane is heavily involved in the House of Thatcher as the Spiritual Life Associate. As Spiritual Life Associate, she organizes Bible study groups and house-wide worships. Duane also works to maintain relationships with women in the house that foster and advance spiritual life. 

“She cares deeply for the people around her and makes working with her easy,” said Olivia Staggs, House of Thatcher’s Chamberlain, the corresponding executive team member to Spiritual Life Associate.

“I started realizing how much I actually stood out. Whenever I opened my mouth, it was obvious that I wasn’t from Mississippi.”

Duane puts an emphasis on her own spiritual health and regularly attends Resurrection Life in the Upper East Side. Though she grew up practicing the Catholic faith in Ireland, she pursued a non-denominational Christian church after moving to New York City.

“I did not know Christ through Catholicism,” Duane said. “It was very much religion over relationship.”

Though Duane has left behind many of the aspects of her life in Ireland, she still holds onto one key element of life in County Cork: the Irish language. 

“It’s a preservation effort so people don’t forget the language,” Duane said. “It’s cool now that I’m not living in Ireland. I’m able to realize how important my heritage is to my life and how important the language is. I can still hold onto that.”