John's side of the family has plenty of Irish to claim. Aye, you should 'ere 'is ackcent 'e puts on soomtime. LOL

His mom's family was McCoy of the McKay clan. Yes, the very same McCoys that are famous for the Hatfield and McCoy fued - but back several generations. LOL. Every once in a while we get a Hatfield and McCoy reunion invitation. Now the two families are great friends I guess.

His grandfather, George W. McCoy, was the editor of the Asheville Citizen Times and was best friends with Thomas Wolf. George W. McCoy wrote several books which we have in our family collection. He had a passion for writing about Appalacian history. One book is a booklet called Asheville and Thomas Wolfe. A few years ago there was a fellow writing a biography about John' grandfather. We were asked to send some information for research, but now that we live half a country away, we are little out of the loop on how the book is coming along. It reminds me to e-mail and ask. It might already be published for all I know.

Nothing like St. Patricks Day to get you thinking about the Irish side of the family.