WHEN NUALA Holloway got a call from the US embassy to ask if she was available to receive a package from the White House, she thought it was a joke. But unwrapping the tissue paper inside the White House-stamped box she realised it wasn’t.
A letter thanking her for a painting given to him on his visit to Ireland last year was signed in black ink by Barack Obama.
“I didn’t believe it,” says Westmeath-born Holloway. A teacher of Irish and English at St Kilian’s German School in Clonskeagh, Dublin, and an artist in her spare time, the Blackrock-based woman was inspired to offer the gift to the embassy before the president’s visit when she discovered his Moneygall ancestor had married a “Charlotte Holloway”.
“When I made inquiries I saw that her origins were in the south of England, as were mine, so I decided I’m going to offer a gift at least.” A painting of replica Famine ship the Jeanie Johnston setting sail from Dún Laoghaire, a scene she had often sketched on the pier, seemed appropriate.
“With him in mind I decided I’d paint it and see what happens. His ancestor would have gone in a similar-type ship back in 1850, and I thought it would be something that he’d like.”
The former Miss Ireland describes as a “lovely surprise” the embassy’s decision to accept the gift last year.
“I had to rush off and get it framed.”
A letter from the president, expressing his “deepest thanks for your kind gift, your thoughtfulness and generosity”, was an unexpected bonus. She describes the left-handed signature as “a work of art in itself”.
The letter, now in a silver frame, has pride of place on her mantelpiece.
“It’s something very, very special and I will treasure it.”
