The Remarkable Life of Kitty McInerney: How a Poor Irish Immigrant Raised 17 Children in Great Depression New York

On December 7th, 1955, Kitty McInerney lay dying in a New York hospital bed. The forty-seven year-old Irish immigrant, suffering from severe toxemia, was preparing for an emergency c-section to give birth to her 17th child. As a Catholic priest performed her last rites, Kitty succumbed to a rare moment of quiet reflection. While her thoughts centered on the fate of her many young children, Kitty found no solace in contemplating her improbable tale of survival... her impoverished youth in rural Ireland, her courageous journey from a small Irish village to the largest city in the world, and her tireless devotion to an ever-expanding family amidst impossible hardships in the impoverished South Bronx. Nor did Kitty realize how her modest life rode a wave of social and political transformation that would come to define modern America. Poor, burdened, and uncelebrated, Kitty McInerney is remarkable for her unrelenting faith, her unique, individual struggle and for exemplifying the American immigrant experience.

Christopher Prince is a writer and producer in Los Angeles, California, and is proud to be one of Kitty McInerney’s forty-five grandchildren. Christopher earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with highest honors from the University of Cincinnati’s Electronic Media Division and a Master of Arts in Film from the University of New Orleans. He has worked in film and television production as a writer, producer and production manager and in interactive marketing as a copywriter, creative project manager, and interactive producer. Christopher always cherished his early childhood memories of Kitty before his family moved away from Los Angeles. Having returned to Los Angeles after graduate school, he feels blessed to have gotten close to Kitty over the last eight years of her life. This book was written in preparation for a feature documentary Christopher is presently producing about Kitty McInerney.