Irish Man, Rose loyal to New Dublin
By Scott Bellile
The night before they lead the New Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Steve and Joan Malliet will haul into Pup’s Irish Pub a life-size cutout of a loved one and toast to his memory.
This representation of Joan’s second-oldest brother and early Shamrock Club booster David “Fluf” Barrington is a sentimental gift dating back to 2000.
That March, Fluf and his wife, Bonnie, rode in the St. Patrick’s Day Grand Parade as Irish Man and Rose, just one week after Fluf’s spinal operation to treat his cancer.
He died 17 days later at the age of 52.
Fluf’s coworkers at Curwood paid tribute at his funeral by enlarging a photo of him in Irish garb and taping it to cardboard.
The cutout came home that day.
Eventually the Malliets upgraded the worn cardboard standee to corrugated plastic. More durable than ever, Fluf appears at Pup’s each year to provide smiles, memories and photo opportunities.
“If [onlookers] don’t know the history, they think it’s weird,” Joan said, “but everyone in the area knows” and enjoys the spectacle.
Following brother’s footsteps
Steve and Joan will follow in her beloved brother’s footsteps as parade dignitaries 23 years later.
The couple will be introduced at Irish Entertainment Night Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. at New London High School.
Then they will cruise in a convertible at the front of the parade Saturday, March 18, at 1 p.m. in downtown New London.
Joan follows a line of honorees in the family going back to her mother, Margaret Barrington, in 1984.
“Her mother being the very first Irish Rose I think was very fitting because she and the whole Barrington clan did a lot for the organization from the very start,” Steve said.
The Shamrock Club rewarded Joan’s family for their dedication with more Irish Man and Rose titles, starting with uncle Tip Collier in 1989 and followed by numerous Barrington siblings and in-laws: sister Judy McDaniel, 1998; sister Suzi Snyder, 2004; brother Tom “Mooch” and sister-in-law Judi, 2006; and brother Mike and sister-in-law Ruth, 2013.
As a child, Joan’s Irish family observed St. Patrick’s Day by cooking homemade corned beef and cabbage and sending a green treat with the kids to school.
Green hair
One year in grade school, Joan wanted to dye her hair green. Her mother told her to use green food coloring with water to dilute it.
“I didn’t pay a lot of attention, so my hair was really nice and green for school and a really long time,” Joan said. “It had to be a month.”
Steve and Joan met in the music program as upperclassmen at New London High School in 1980.
When they married five years later, they were already attending the earliest New Dublin festivities.
The Malliets made it to all but one year each since the tradition began 29 years ago (minus the cancellations in 2020 and 2021).
Steve missed 1999 to travel to the varsity boys’ state basketball game with his children. Joan skipped 2014 to watch her son Ryan accept his Herb Kohl Student Excellence Scholarship.
Shamrock Club
Their loyalty can be credited to decades of involvement with the Shamrock Club. They started in the ’80s as actors in the Finnegan’s Wake funeral procession, Steve as a drummer and Joan as a mourner.
In the ’90s, Steve and Joan served as the Shamrock Club’s treasurer and secretary, respectively. They additionally entered themed parade floats each year with the Barringtons, and Steve designed 10 years of event buttons.
Since then, they scaled back their hours in the Shamrock Club to focus on their four children and their families: Lauren, son-in-law Dan Gilanyi and 5-year-old grandson Aaron; Colin and daughter-in-law Melissa Koe; Ryan; and Ben.
“We’ve been members this whole entire time of the club, but … your life priorities change,” Steve said.
They participate by attending meetings and volunteering at the Irish Fest tent.
“When you have a family that’s completely involved in it, you really don’t have a choice,” Joan said of the Barrington clan. “You’re always kind of there.”
Steve and Joan will continue their year of Irish celebration by taking their kids and the spouses to Ireland this summer.
They plan to revisit places Steve and Joan traveled when they renewed their wedding vows there in 2015 and check out Killahoe, New London’s new sister city.