A Kerry woman who was cook to three US presidents is to be celebrated as part of this year’s Listowel Food Fair. Kathy Buckley, who was born in Listowel in 1886, served as head cook in the White House under presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D Roosevelt before retiring to her home town, where she lived until her death in 1969.

Vincent Carmody, a local historian who is related to Kathy Buckley through marriage, explains that Kathy was invited to the US by the banker and financier JP Morgan, who was highly impressed by her culinary skills while on holiday in the Butler Arms in Waterville where she was working at the time.

Morgan needed an assistant cook for his mansion in Connecticut and asked if Kathy would be interested in the job. She said she would – as long as her father gave his blessing.

“There was an exchange of letters,” continues Vincent, “and he gave his permission providing that his daughter could be sent back on the first boat if she was unhappy.”

It’s a good thing that she settled in then. Having risen to the position of head cook at Morgan’s mansion, incoming President Calvin Coolidge was so taken with the standard of food when he dined there that he invited Kathy to run the kitchen at the White House.

“Clearly it must have been a great jump for her,” says Vincent. “But she was a very confident person.”

Indeed, the story goes that when President Coolidge was succeeded by Hoover and was being introduced to the White House staff, Kathy stepped forward and declared: “Mr President, I have never voted for your party.”

“And he said: ‘Madam, that’s every American’s prerogative,’” says Vincent, explaining that Kathy was a staunch Democratic.

Still, it didn’t get in the way of genuine respect and friendship between them. Among the memorabilia that Vincent has inherited is a note that President Hoover’s wife sent to Kathy, thanking her for gifts that she brought back from a trip to Ireland in 1932.

“My dear Katherine, such beautiful souvenirs of Ireland. Weren’t you kind to think of me in that lovely place? I have had so many happy days there and I am very touched that you remembered me when you were at home and I hope you had a very happy visit. Yours gratefully, Mrs Henry Hoover.”

Vincent remarks: “There was a genuine friendship that you would probably not get today between somebody in such high office and somebody that was working in the kitchen.”

Other items in his possession include a key that President Coolidge gave Kathy after he was made a Freeman of Fort Worth in Texas, a selection of menus (one dated 29 June 1929 that shows that the President enjoyed a luncheon of egg soufflé, lamb chops, mashed potatoes, string beans, salad and strawberry shortcake) as well as handwritten recipes, including one for a plum pudding that Kathy requested from the head cook at 10 Downing Street.

After her time in the White House, Kathy worked as a cook in private family homes in the States, before returning home to Listowel in the 1950s.

“Today, you’d be going on a lecture trail,” says Vincent of her low-key retirement, though notes that even in her later years she could “make a feast out of two boiled eggs”.

He relates a story that the writer Bryan McMahon once told about “Kathy White House” when asked if she ever witnessed any crisis during her time with the presidents.

“And Kathy turned around and said: ‘If my sandwiches came up from the Oval Office uneaten, I knew there was a world crisis,’” relates Vincent.

Kathy died in 1969, but her story has been kept alive by Vincent in two of his books, North Kerry Camera and Snapshots of an Irish Market Town, as well as by her nephew Patrick Buckley, who lives in her former home on Upper William Street.

And it is here that a plaque will be unveiled in Kathy’s honour during the 21st annual Listowel Food Festival, which this year runs from 18-21 June. Festival highlights include the award for best emerging artisan food product, the All-Ireland craft beer championship, a food trail, workshops and much more.

For further information about the festival and the Kathy Buckley story, visit www.listowelfoodfair.ie.