AUBURN — James Wellehan, president of Lamey-Wellehan, a Maine-based, family-owned shoe store chain that marked its 100th anniversary in 2014, will become the eighth recipient of the Maine Irish Heritage Center’s Claddagh Award.
The award will be presented at a celebration and dinner at the Maine Irish Heritage Center on Gray Street in Portland on Friday, Nov. 13.
Wellehan’s father, Daniel, came from Dingle, Ireland, and settled in Holyoke, Mass., before moving to Lewiston. Wellehan is a frequently lauded businessman who is known for his wit and environmentalism.
He graduated from College of the Holy Cross and taught for a year in Lesotho in southern Africa before serving in the U.S. Army and earning a master’s degree in business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to the family business and, under his leadership, it has grown every year since.
Among Wellehan’s many efforts as a community and business leader is an ongoing program that collects shoes for the homeless. He has also made major improvements toward reducing the environmental impact of his business, and received broad-based recognition for those efforts.
Organizers of the award said, however, that perhaps Wellehan is most appreciated in the area of employee relations and for his personal efforts to ensure a fair, livable wage for workers in Maine.
The Claddagh, which exemplifies the ideals of friendship, loyalty and love, is a beloved symbol of Irish culture and tradition all over the world. Each year the Maine Irish Heritage Center honors a distinguished Irish-American in Maine who has devoted his life to serving and improving his community and the state, and who has brought honor to his Irish roots by doing so.
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