Martin Galvin Jr. and Emer Larkin bring Riverdale and Ireland together

Martin Galvin Jr. and Emer Larkin of Palisade Avenue will be married on Thursday, Aug. 30 at St. Barnabas Church in Woodlawn.

The marriage is a love story that crosses the Atlantic. A decade ago, in September 2002, Martin attended his cousin’s wedding in Mullingar, County Westmeath, in Ireland. Before the wedding, his mother told him he needed to look his best because he might meet his future wife there.

Sure enough, Emer spotted Martin as the American at the wedding because of his tan khaki pants and white socks. On their first date, Martin’s bicycle broke and he had to hitch a ride on a tractor to Rochfortbridge to meet Emer who was waiting in a car with her mother. Seven years later, the couple was engaged at a beach on the Jersey shore.

Martin is the son of Riverdalians Martin Galvin Sr., a prominent criminal defense attorney and well-known member of the Irish-American community. Martin’s mother is Carmel Galvin from Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath in Ireland. She works in the liver transplant unit at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. Emer’s parents are Joe Larkin and Angela Larkin, who reside in Rahugh, County Westmeath, where they have a cattle farm.

Martin was born in the Bronx and grew up in Kingsbridge and Riverdale. He graduated from Fordham Prep, Manhattan College and Notre Dame Law School. He worked as a prosecutor at the Bronx County D.A.’s Office, as a law clerk to Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick of the New York State Court of Appeals and as an adjunct professor of Sociology and Spanish at Manhattan College. He now works as a court attorney to Judge Ralph Fabrizio in Bronx County Supreme Court. He was recently appointed to Community Board 8 and is very active in the Riverdale-Kingsbridge community. 

Emer grew up in Ireland, near Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath. She graduated from the Dublin Institute of Technology with a major in nutritional health science and an advanced degree in nutritional therapy. She is employed as a research associate at Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx. 

The wedding will be celebrated by Mgsr. Larkin of Visitation Church in Kingsbridge (where Martin went to grade school) and Mgsr. Barry of St. Barnabas Church in Woodlawn (where the two attend church).