CASEY, VERONICA “VERA” (July 25, 1930-February 7, 2024) was a beautician and entrepreneur who owned and operated Casey’s Irish Imports in ROCKY RIVER. She was born as the third child to Frank and Florence Holian in Cong, County Mayo, Ireland. Upon the death of her mother, the young woman had to drop out of school to take care of her six younger siblings. She moved to London a few years later searching for work. It was there that she married Tom Casey of County Galway, Ireland, on St. Patrick’s Day in 1952.
The Caseys traveled to the United States for the first time in 1956, staying with a Holian sister in NORTH OLMSTED. The growing family then split their time for several years between living in Ireland and the United States. During that period , Casey went to beauty school and opened salons in Galway and Ohio. She focused on the American location after buying a house in LAKEWOOD in 1975.
Although the family settled in the United States, Casey continued visiting Ireland and bringing back souvenirs to her salon customers. She eventually decided to sell Irish items in her Lakewood salon and, in 1985, expanded her business under the name “Casey’s House of Beauty and Irish Imports.” Three years later, she retired from the beauty industry to focus on running the newly opened Casey’s Irish Imports in Rocky River. She operated the shop until 2012 when she passed over control to two daughters.
Casey promoted her heritage not only by selling Irish items but also by participating in a variety of cultural activities. A devout Catholic, she was an active member of three parishes. She also belonged to the WEST SIDE IRISH AMERICAN CLUB, Ladies ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS, Mayo Society of Greater Cleveland, and Cleveland Gaelic Society. For her career and volunteer work, she was honored as the 2012 Irish Mother of the Year by the United Irish Societies of Greater Cleveland and awarded the Irish American Archives Society’s WALKS OF LIFE AWARD in 2019.
Vera Casey shared a sixty-two-year marriage with her husband Tom until his death in 2014 . They raised four children: Maureen, Patricia, Thomas, and Kathleen. She passed away on February 7, 2024, and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Avon, Ohio.
David Brennan