By Emmett Fitzpatrick
Most of us in the Irish community in Chicago know Sean O’Dowd as the face of the Ancient Order of Hibernians – and rightfully so, given his two decades of service to the organization, including a stint as National Director – but his connection with being Irish, and the impact he has made on this community, extend even deeper than that. 
Sean O’Dowd, Irish Consul General, Brian Cahalane, Lynn O’Dowd and Irish Vice Consul, Padraig Manning.
To trace O’Dowd’s story, one must begin in County Cavan, where, in 1928, his father Matthew O’Dowd was born and lived until 1948, when he emigrated to the United States under the sponsorship of Hugh Plunkett – yes, that Hugh Plunkett of Plunkett Furniture – who was living here with his brother Edward. Shortly after arriving in the United States, Matthew joined the United States Army and shipped off to the Arctic Circle to build a radar base during the Korean War. Upon returning stateside, he became a U.S. citizen and met his wife Sally-Ann in Galesburg, Illinois, where he had visited to see a friend from the Army.
O’Dowd’s parents moved from Galesburg to Chicago’s West Side before settling in Hoffman Estates, which was then a tiny little community that welcomed many veterans and young families.
“Hoffman Estates could not have been a greater place to grow up,” O’Dowd remembers. “We had huge lots where we could play in our and our neighbors’ backyards, play pond hockey in the winter, all of those things.”
At the same time that he was being raised in that most American of institutions – the quintessential suburban community – he also learned what it meant to be Irish when he would gather with his extended family of cousins.
“The family parties were when we really saw the Irish storytelling, dancing, songs, and music. What I remember most was the laughter,” he says, adding that he and his family would go back to Ireland every other summer to stay with his grandparents.
After graduating from Hoffman Estates High School, O’Dowd joined his father’s flooring business, where he would work for 10 years before joining a union and working in new construction. One winter, he took a job working in commercial buildings, and discovered the world of medical facilities, and specifically specialty flooring within those buildings. This would be the focus of the rest of his career.
“At first, I was drawn to commercial buildings like hospitals because there was always work to be done, even in the winter. I figured, if you’re good and reliable, you won’t be out of work,” he recalls.
O’Dowd would often work five days per week for his company and then take on extra jobs during the weekend, but he enjoyed his professional life and the impact he was making. As he says, “if you’ve ever been in an emergency room, and operating room, or any other medical facility, chances are you’ve walked on my floors.” He was especially busy during the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately retired in 2022.
As if working upwards of seven days week did not keep O’Dowd busy enough, in 2001, shortly after moving to Portage Park with his wife Lynn, he joined Division 32 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, thus beginning a storied history with the largest and oldest Irish Catholic organization in America.
O’Dowd “stayed in the background,” as he puts it, during his first few years as a member of the AOH, then began volunteering on the board, ultimately serving as divisional president.
“Once I became president, I told myself, if I’m going to do this, I’m all in,” says O’Dowd, who combed through the AOH constitution to understand how the organization was designed to be run, and then began implementing some of his ideas to advance it in the twenty-first century.
“I wanted to be more than an Irish social group. I wanted to become something more than a mysterious organization, to let people know who we are and what we do, to emphasize the Irish causes that we care about.”
O’Dowd’s service to the AOH culminated in 2020, when he was elected National Director. In this role, he continued his theme of “getting to work” to focus on two main priorities: 1) involving local chapters to make sure they were aware of all the programs available to them from the national office, and 2) using the AOH to drive meaningful engagement around Irish-related causes with elected officials. During his term as National Director, he also coordinated and orchestrated the creation of six new divisions across the Midwest.
Reflecting on his life as a leader in the local and national Irish American community, O’Dowd does not shy away from sharing his strongly held beliefs about the necessity of a free and united Ireland and the important impact of Irish immigration in America.
“I remember marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade alongside Irish Community Services, and we were trumpeting our support of immigration. When I heard some people in the crowd yell out ‘Build the wall,’ I wanted to stop and let them know about who we are, and where we’ve come from.”
A self-professed “Irish history nerd,” O’Dowd also acknowledges that his idea of what it means to be Irish has evolved throughout his life.
“I don’t want people to look at the Irish in the stereotypical ways, the drunk leprechaun who comes out on St. Patrick’s Day. When I was young, I didn’t see anything wrong with it, but it’s not in good taste. Now, I look at us as trying to promote being Irish for all the good things that we are: the history, the music, the arts, and the culture. We are an incredibly great diaspora.”
From the floors of the great hospitals in Chicago to the top leadership of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Sean O’Dowd has carved out his own legacy in that great Irish diaspora.
Sean O’Dowd’s Lasting Impact on the Great Irish Diaspora Thru the AOH
