The O’Donoghue Society Council
Tighe is the artist O Donoghue/Ross, descended from the outlaw rapparee family known as the O’Donoghues of Ross. He returned to Ireland with his wife Elizabeth and family over a quarter century ago. In that time they have created several landmark features in Kerry, including Capall Mór, the Great Horse of Killarney, the bronze monument to St. Brendan at Fenit, the memorial windows to his ancestors in St. Mary’s Cathedral and the array of carved standing stones called ‘The Sculpture Road to Killarney’. Tighe has an MFA from City University New York, graduated magna cum laude. He contributes to The O’Donoghue Society Journal and the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society Magazine and Journal.
Sarah Smith is a founder, shareholder and Managing Director of Walkgrove Ltd, a twenty-year old, award-winning training consultancy specialising in the design and delivery of bespoke learning solutions and related consultancy. Recently she has become a trustee of the E-learning Industry Charity, Learn Appeal. She has a keen interest in history and literature and, as a trained copyeditor, enjoys helping out with additional research and editing of contributions from O'Donoghue Society members concerning their ancestors' lives and times. Other interests include football - particularly West Ham - and pubs.
Laura is the granddaughter of Lemuel Larkin Donoho. She lives in San Jose, California (USA) and is currently a volunteer with several organizations that work with the hungry and homeless. Her focus is working to provide student resources to solve hunger issues on campus and in the downtown area. Laura is the Regent of the Gilroy DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and promotes her goal of working with veterans of war. She retired after 33 years of service in April 2017 as a Project Coordinator at Ernst & Young LLP. Laura’s current projects include Martha’s Kitchen, Hunger at Home, Downtown Street Team, San Jose State University and various other agencies to feed and help the homeless. She has been married to Ron Bravo for 36 years and has three daughters: Stephanie, Robin and Cristina. In her past time, she enjoys volunteering and participating in board and council meetings, helping veterans, working on family genealogy, traveling, home decorating and walking.
Brendan has worked for over 15 years researching his own family tree and helping others research theirs.
He has completed an intensive genealogy course at Newpark College, Dublin under the well-known genealogist and author Bob Burke, he has studied genealogy at University College, Dublin. In his professional life, Brendan carries out all forms of custom research in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. He currently works as a research expert at JustAnswer.com. Over 80% of his projects have been carried out in the United States, he specialises in Irish-American research.
