Barney Carr (80) has lived a fascinating life. He was born in Southwest Philadelphia in 1940. When he was 20, he went to sea on an oil tanker for two and a half years before spending time in the US Army and Navy.

In the mid-seventies, he came to Carrigart to visit his family and stayed in Ireland after he married to Ann from Ennistymon, County Clare and spent 25 years with her before they separated.

In 1999, he returned to Carrigart and renovated his family homestead where he lived with his aunt Annie. Following her death, he went on his travels again to Thailand where he met the woman who would become the mother of his first child, Bridget.

Barney was 70 when Bridget was born in 2010, and five years later, at the age of 75, he welcomed his son Brendan into his family.

The family moved back to Carrigart where they have now settled and live happily. However, Barney’s family grew again in 2019 when he found out he had an older daughter, Maureen, whom he fathered in 1965 when he was stationed at Fort Story, Virginia.

Barney said he started to write the book for his daughter, Bridget but that now his family has grown, he dedicates the book to his three children.

Describing his new book, Barney said, “The book is a gift to my children. I was gifted with a beautiful daughter in late 2010 at the age of seventy.

“I thought if she is to know anything about her biological father I should write it down for her.

“So it starts in 1940 and goes through to where I am now with all the twists and turns.

“From my growing up days to my life in the merchant navy and US Army, on to a serious accident in Vietnam and long hospital stay in three different hospitals, until I could walk on crutches.

“My life in the business world and on to more adventurous lifestyle which led me to live in Costa Rica for years and then on to Ireland, where I got married, and back to the United states for fifteen years with my new family.

“In 2006, I met a lovely young Thai woman and we had a daughter together in late 2010 in Thailand who is now ten years old.

“Since then I was blessed with a son who is six. Since then I found out I also had a daughter born in 1965 who is now a grandmother herself.

“I started writing this book for one daughter, and now I am finished, it is for the three of them to know more about their biological father.

“I never felt comfortable talking about myself, but with the birth of my daughter in 2010 things really changed; I really enjoyed writing my memoirs and hope they are enjoyed by whoever reads them,” said Barney.