On Wednesday, May 13th, Mary Ellen Lynch, a resident of The Mayflower Community Health Center, was honored with a drive-in visit by members of the Grinnell Police and Fire departments.
Led by Dennis Reilly, Chief of Police, they arrived in front of the Health Center to read by loud speaker, a proclamation directed to Mary Ellen, who was able to watch and hear from inside. The Police were celebrating National Police Week (May 10th – 16th) by honoring a fallen officer.
In August of 1948, Warren Binegar, a 23 year-old officer—five days on the job—was hit by a vehicle while at the scene of a car accident on Highway 6 east of Grinnell. He left behind a young daughter and his wife, Mary Ellen.
In 2014, a memorial designed by Joel Smith and the Smith Funeral Home was dedicated on the site of Grinnell’s then-new Public Safety Building.
The Police and Fire departments performed a similar event at St. Francis Manor earlier in the day to honor the widowed wife of another fallen officer. As public servants remember and salute the citizens they serve, they demonstrate why they serve and how they treat us constituents. In Grinnell, we are extremely fortunate.
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