05/30/2026
It is with heavy hearts & profound sadness that we inform our Yeates Academy family & friends that Molly Malone Mannenbach passed away yesterday, May 28. Molly & my mom, Breda, started the school together in 1986, under the name Molly Malone Irish Dancers. Breda & Molly had a long-lasting friendship & business relationship until Molly retired from Yeates Academy in 2020. The determination that led them to start an Irish Dance school in Portland is still going strong 40 years later, making us Oregon’s longest-running Irish Dance Academy.
Molly was my dance teacher for many, many years until I started dancing for Annie McBride, ADCRG in my teens, and then Tony Comerford, ADCRG in my twenties. When I received my TCRG certification in 2003, she was there to offer me advice, support, & love when I needed it most. When the CLRG required the school to change its name from Molly Malone Irish Dancers upon my certification, she supported renaming it Yeates Academy of Irish Dance, therefore keeping our performance troupes under the Molly Malone Irish Dancers name until 2020.
During the years that Molly instructed me, she taught me everything she could about traditional Irish Dancing. Most memorably, her variation of “King of the Fairies” will always be one of my favorite traditional set dances. A variation I have since passed on to my own students. Molly was incredibly talented, with a passion for teaching & a fierce commitment to the Catholic religion. As an Irish Dancer, she had impeccable timing & rhythm & was well known in the Portland Irish community during the 1970s; she was a fabulous traditional dancer in her own right. Frankly, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of Molly & my mom from the beginning of my Irish dance journey.
Molly will always be remembered with love by all of us here at Yeates Academy. Her influence will stay with me for the rest of my life, as I’m sure it will with others.
Molly is survived by her sons Christopher Mannenbach and Ian Mannenbach. We wish them love and prayers as they move forward in life.
Until we meet again, Molly…Rest peacefully now. 💚🤍🧡☘️
~Sinéad
