Sgt. Lennox

     My Paternal Grandfather died decades before I was born, in fact just months after my father was born. He was a New York City Police Officer, and he died when the police truck he was in ran off a road near a police camp in upstate New York in 1923.

     Back in the Summer of 2001, I started a campaign to have his name added to the NYPD Police Memorial, honoring officers who died in the line of duty.

     Then came 9/11, and the volunteer retired officer who handles the project had more deceased officers on his hands than could ever have been predicted.

     I let it go till last year, when I made contact again and emailed various documents about the accident and his service to the force.

     Yesterday I received word that his name is officially on the memorial now, and will be added to a national memorial in D.C.

     Thank you for your service, Sgt. Lennox.

Ireland

     The land of my Grandmothers and a Grandfather is celebrated each year on St. Pat's Day, a reminder to the world of all things Irish.

     I hope those who are Irish, if only for the day, enjoyed the celebration. I hear the weather bright and sunny for the NY St. Pat's Day parade, and that's a blessin'

     That's Andrew and Sarah and one of their children...the photo is not labeled and we guess it may be one of the three children they lost to a mysterious illness in 1921.

     He was an Irish cop in New York, she was the Mother who gave birth to ten children, including my Dad.

     After Andrew died in 1923, Sarah and the children went back to her homeland, but only for a visit.

     These are especially tough times for Ireland. So many took advantage of the great economy in the mid to late 2000's, that they fell all the harder. from The Great Recession.

     Though I hold dual-citizenship with Ireland because of my ancestry, and even carry an Irish passport, I've yet to visit. Maybe this year?



[NASA has provided a gorgeous photo of Erie from space...no wonder she's called The Emerald Isle!]