Irish dance school founder

As co-founder with her husband of one of Chicago’s most influential Irish dance schools, Margaret “Margie” Dennehy was a teacher, mentor and “second mom” to scores of students.

Dennehy, 80, was inducted with her husband, Dennis, into the North American Feis Commission Hall of Fame in 2005. She died of natural causes March 12 in Chicago.

For more than five decades, Dennehy inspired and instilled confidence, propelling many toward high-profile careers, including Mark Howard, an award-winning Irish dance choreographer.

“She was a pioneer in Irish dance, with an extraordinary ability to create something so profound, so innovative that to this day her imprint still endures,” said Howard, founder of the Trinity Dance Company and Trinity Academy of Irish Dance. “As a teacher, she made me feel like I was way better than I was. She helped me believe that anything was possible.”

The Dennehy School of Irish Dance won hundreds of regional titles and several national titles.

Dennehy met her future husband on a bus after he struck up a conversation about step dancing. She shared with him her dream of someday running a dance studio.

After the couple married in 1960, they opened a school and rented space wherever they could - in storefronts, community halls and even church basements. Their fee in the beginning was 75 cents per lesson.

Dennis Dennehy, who died four years ago, worked days as an insurance underwriter, returning home in the evening to help teach classes. He took charge of the school in the 1980s, when his wife needed to step down because of poor health.

Survivors also include a son, Dennis; a brother, George Bartishell; and a grandson.