Sergeant Patrick F. Delaney

Dear Grandpa,

As I said earlier, I have always missed having a grandpa keeping an eye out for me. As I read through the reflections, I was struck by what my cousin, who I have known as Bobby Delaney, said about your loss impacting us to this very day.

What Bobby said had me remembering that when I turned to writing fulltime, one of the first pieces I wrote was about your loss to us. Since I am a fiction writer, the piece was fictionalized,
but it rose from what had happened to you. The piece was well received. It was published in several magazines, the newspaper, and read on public radio. I think you would have liked the policeman in my first novel, President Kennedy's Promises.

Bobby's reflection also had me remembering that when I was teaching, I once took my class to 11th and State to view your star and the stars of other murdered Chicago policemen. I also sometimes visited you, my uncles, and later Aunt Babe at Mt. Carmel.

I have a letter you wrote to grandma before you were married. I guess Bobby was right, grandpa, you have been and are with us to this day.

Mary P. Carroll, your oldest granddaughter

August 11, 2017