By Mark Zaretsky
New Haven Register, Conn.
WEST HAVEN, Conn. — New Haven patrol officer Hugh McKeon was shot in the line of duty way back in 1901 while chasing a woman who was dressed as a man at a time when women weren’t allowed to enter taverns unescorted.
The woman ran into a nearby “house of ill repute,” according to reports a descendant unearthed. McKeon and another officer, Turburt, ‘raided’ the house and the owner shot McKeon three times — in the chest, face and left forearm.
McKeon is on the New Haven Police Department’s Wall of Honor, as well as the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. Police brass still visit the D.C. memorial each May, and see the local memorial every day.
For 124 years, however, McKeon’s grave marker in West Haven’s St. Lawrence Cemetery said only “HUGH” and the date of his death. But not anymore.
McKeon’s great-great-grandnephew, retired West Shore Fire Department Lt. Kevin McKeon of West Haven , has fixed that and given his ancestor a new gravestone, which also corrects the spelling of the family name on a nearby marker.
“I thought a police officer killed in the line of duty deserved a proper gravestone,” Kevin McKeon said during a rededication ceremony Thursday afternoon.
“He needed a stone,” McKeon said afterward, pointing out that his great, great uncle “sacrificed his life for the city.” The new one includes Hugh McKeon’s “End of Watch,” his rank and his badge number: “96.”
The McKeon family was joined for the occasion by New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson and three assistant chiefs, as well as West Haven Fire Department Chief Jim O’Brien and state Rep. Bill Heffernan , D- West Haven , among others, to dedicate the new marker.
Kevin McKeon , who is well known in West Haven as the guy who for many years has played “Taps” on a bugle at West Haven Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies and funerals, had the cemetery put up a blue canopy because of forecasted rain. But the ceremony managed to beat the first drops of rain by a few minutes.
But not until Kevin McKeon played “Taps” on his bugle for the long-gone great, great uncle he never got to meet.
Kevin McKeon said he had heard his great, great uncle’s story for many years from his late grandfather and father, Edward and George McKeon . But when he began to move forward with the idea, he learned that there were three other Hugh McKeons buried in the sprawling Roman Catholic cemetery, located across from the Yale athletic complex on the New Haven-West Haven line at Derby Avenue ( Route 34 ) and Forest Road .
He eventually found the right one, after finding in his research with good friend and Madison Fire Chief Robert Gerard , a genealogist, that one of the Hugh McKeons dated back to the Civil War.
Jacobson, who was joined by assistant chiefs Bertram Ettienne , David Zannelli and Manmeet Bhagtana , said he was pleased to attend — and considered Hugh McKeon his family, as well.
“Thank you very much for finding your family member,” Jacobson said during the rededication ceremony. “He’s not just your family member, but he’s our family member.”
Jacobson pointed out that “we salute him every year,” and pledged, “He’ll just never be forgotten. It’s just real important to honor the people who lose their lives in the line of duty,” he said.
Father Bruce Bellmore , Archdeacon of the Anglican Catholic Church’s Diocese of the Resurrection , Anglican Catholic Church , gave the benediction after Kevin McKeon’s daughter, Taylor McKeon , placed a wreath at the grave.
“I’m so proud of my father,” said Taylor McKeon , 34. “He’s always been incredible about honoring the family history.”
Kevin McKeon , who was accompanied by his fiance, Jacqueline Donovan , said he thought the ceremony “was just fine. It was just the way I thought it would be,” he said.
When he died, Hugh McKeon left a wife, Annie Quinn McKeon , and three small children. His funeral with full New Haven Police Department honors was at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at Lawrence and Nicoll streets in New Haven .
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