Benedict Kiely was my uncle, my dad's brother by 12 years his junior. Dad and Uncle Ben were always very close and I got to know my wonderful uncle very well when I was growing up. When my dad died in 1987 when I was 21, Uncle Ben kept in constant contact with me and I would go and meet him when I was in Dublin. And when I moved to NYC the following year, he always wrote and sent me books and said he'd always be there. I remember when I was back living in Ireland and writing a lot of poetry that I had started many years before, I asked uncle Ben to read over some of them and give me his professional opinion. He was so proud of my work and wrote some notes on the poems that I showed him and I have those notes to this day. I am extremely proud to be his niece and even though I'll never be able to achieve all he accomplished, I hope that I'm making both him and my dad proud up in Heaven.