SPONSOR: Sen. McDowell & Rep. DiPinto
Sens. Henry & Marshall; Reps. Williams, Plant,
Scott, Keeley & Houghton & Reps. Spence, Brady, Vansant, D. Ennis,
Lofink, Ewing, Miro, B. Ennis, Valihura, Buckworth
SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION NO. 26
HONORING THE MEMORY OF THE LATE THOMAS PATRICK CONATY,
JR., A WILMINGTON POLICE OFFICER WHO GAVE HIS LIFE IN THE LINE OF DUTY, UPON
THE OCCASION OF THE DEDICATION OF CONATY PARK.
WHEREAS,
Wilmington Detective Thomas Patrick Conaty, Jr., while on routine patrol at
2:00 a.m. on the 26th Day of December, 1946, at Seventh and King Streets, was
shot and fatally wounded by an assailant; and
WHEREAS, Tom Conaty was born in
Wilmington on March 12, 1916, the son of Thomas Patrick Conaty, Sr., and his
wife, the former Elizabeth Curran, both immigrants from Ireland, where they
were native to the counties of Cavan and Tyrone respectively; and
WHEREAS, Tom was raised at the
family home along Gilpin Avenue in the Forty Acres with his sisters Mary
Elizabeth and Theresa, and his brothers, Francis P. and John (both now
deceased); and
WHEREAS, on the First Day of April,
1940, Tom joined the Wilmington Police Department as a patrolman, being
promoted to the rank of Detective after five years of service; and
WHEREAS, Detective Conaty was on
patrol in the area of Seventh and King Streets in the early morning hours of
December 26, 1946, when word came of a burglary of a Wilmington gun shop; and
WHEREAS, Detective Conaty stopped a
17-year-old boy for questioning, whereupon a struggle ensued and the youth
pulling out a firearm, shot the young police officer and left him to die on the
sidewalk; and
WHEREAS, Detective Conaty’s
assailant, a juvenile offender on holiday leave from the Ferris School when he
and another boy committed the burglary, was later captured after the largest
manhunt in Delaware history and convicted of murder; and
WHEREAS, as a result of this tragic
act of violence, Detective Conaty, a young husband and father, was struck down
in the prime of his life, leaving to survive him his wife, Louise, and his
three sons, Thomas, III, William and Gerald; and
WHEREAS, Detective Conaty was one in
a long line of Wilmington police officers to have given his life in the line of
duty; and
WHEREAS, the tragic death of Thomas
Conaty, and those other police officers who have lost their lives in the line
of duty, serves as a continuing reminder of the profound debt of gratitude
which we, as citizens, owe to those men and women who serve their fellow
citizens as police officers in Wilmington and elsewhere across Delaware and the
nation; and
WHEREAS, on Saturday morning, April
29th, 2000, friends, family members and others will gather to dedicate “Conaty
Park” in the 1600 Block of Gilpin Avenue in Detective Conaty’s memory;
NOW,
THEREFORE:
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the
140th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the House of Representatives
concurring therein, that the members do hereby honor the memory of Detective
Thomas Patrick Conaty, Jr., of the Wilmington Police Department, upon the
occasion of this most appropriate gesture in naming a park in his honor.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the
members do hereby express their deep appreciation to the Conaty family, who also
made enormous sacrifices as a result of the tragic loss of their loved one, and
to the families of all police officers who must live each day in the knowledge
that their own loved ones could be taken from them.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that an
appropriate copy of this Senate Concurrent Resolution be presented to the
family of the late Thomas Patrick Conaty, Jr.