Irene Kavanagh

Irene Kavanagh was born in late around 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, the third child and second daughter of Patrick Kavanagh (a barge captain from Arklow, County Wicklow) and Sarah "Sadie" Rolf (b. Canada). She grew up in Brooklyn with her older brother Robert, older sister Martha, and younger sister Barbara.

In the 1940 US Federal Census, four-month-old infant Irene was recorded with her family at 206 60th Street, Brooklyn. 

By the April 1950 census, the family had relocated to a second-floor apartment at 180 83rd Street, Brooklyn, where ten-year-old Irene was living at home and attending school.