By Lisa Kashinsky
The Eagle-Tribune
LAWRENCE, Mass. — Standing on the corner across the road from his childhood home of 23 Amherst St., Lawrence police Officer Eugene Scanlon Jr. gazed up at the new street sign dedicating the area in his late father’s memory.
More than four decades after he was killed in the line of duty, the city came together Saturday morning to honor the fallen officer by dedicating the cross of Amherst and Davis Streets in South Lawrence as Patrolman Eugene Scanlon Sr. Square in his memory.
“It’s fantastic, this is where we spent our lives, this is where we grew up,” Scanlon Jr. said.
He added, “It brings my father back here where he belongs.”
More than 75 people attended the square dedication ceremony, including multiple generations of the Scanlon family, police officers from Lawrence and the surrounding communities, and city officials. Police blocked off the road around the square and onlookers, including some neighborhood residents, gathered in a semi-circle around the podium set up underneath the blue sign with white text that dedicated the square to the fallen officer.
His widow, Jane Scanlon, said after the ceremony that it was hard to put into words what the dedication meant to her.
“It’s so wonderful. It’s a proud day. The city did a great job, it’s beautiful,” she said.
The honor was a long time coming.
Scanlon Sr. was filling in for another officer working a detail during a Central Catholic High School dance Jan. 28, 1972, when he went to investigate a disturbance in the parking lot. There, he was jumped by a group of youths and beaten, falling to the ground and sustaining injuries that included blows to the head.
He died of those injuries on Feb. 12, 1972. He was 42.
Scanlon Sr. had initially declined working the detail that night, but had a change of heart due to an “overriding sense of duty,” City Attorney Charles Boddy said.
Along with being a police officer, the Scanlon Sr. was a U.S. Army paratrooper and served as a deep sea diver during the Korean War. He also received a commendation for saving the life of a woman trapped by a fire in her 213 Jackson St. apartment on April 23, 1971.
Boddy worked with City Councilor at Large Roger Twomey and the Scanlon family to finally bring the dedication to fruition after 43 years.
At the time of the officer’s death, Boddy said, law enforcement as an establishment was often disrespected.
“There was not the sort of recognition of duty and honor of sacrifice that we know today,” Boddy told the crowd Saturday morning, adding that dedicating the square was a step in providing the family “long-awaited healing.”
Mayor Daniel Rivera in a proclamation declared Saturday, July 4, as Fallen Patrolman Eugene F. Scanlon Sr. Day in honor of his life, family, and the lives and families of all Lawrence public safety officials.
“I think it’s the city’s duty to make sure we commemorate the sacrifices of men and women in uniform,” Rivera said after the ceremony.
Scanlon Sr.'s death was “particularly tragic” to the city where multiple generations of his family lived, Rivera said in the proclamation. The family has been unable to fully celebrate holidays such as Father’s Day, graduations, weddings, births and deaths, and even his son’s swearing in as a police officer, without the elder Scanlon, he said.
Scanlon Jr., who has served with the Lawrence Police Department since 1999, wears the same badge number as his father, 68. He was born a few months after his father’s death.
Acting police Chief James Fitzpatrick noted that his father worked with Scanlon Sr. on the police force and said that the elder Scanlon made “the ultimate sacrifice.”
“It’s good that we have an opportunity to show the family our respect for that sacrifice,” he said.
During the ceremony, Fitzgerald and Department of Public Works Director John Isensee presented Jane Scanlon with an American flag and the city flag. Rev. John Delaney of Sacred Heart Parish in Haverhill offered an invocation and blessing of the sign. Other officers who had lost their lives on duty were also recognized.
Jane Scanlon said she was pleased with the dedication and praised the city’s efforts.
“I’m very happy they did something,” she said.
As Scanlon Jr. and his brother, William Scanlon, pulled the black wrapping off the sign, their family, from matriarch to grandchildren, gathered close to watch. Among them were the brothers’ two other siblings, Kathleen Phair and Susan Arenella, the latter of whom had traveled with her family from Texas and Oklahoma to be at the dedication.
During his remarks, the junior Scanlon thanked the city and the Lawrence Police Department for honoring his father. He said he was glad to see his father recognized and memorialized.
“It’s the perfect dedication for my dad and it’s nice that we’ll all be together for the Fourth,” he said.
Copyright 2015 The Eagle-Tribune