Page 29 - May 2018 FOP Magazine

Chicago Lodge 7 Memorial Service
Unforgettable
Families of fallen officers feel the power of remembrance at Lodge 7 Memorial Service
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL n PHOTOS BY BOB BAIKIE
Impact, inspiration and importance flowing from the Lodge 7 Memorial Service on May 1 could be felt by spending a few minutes with honored guest Dolores Simanek. At 91 years old and needing help from a wheelchair, Dolores came to this stir- ring ceremony to see the name of her husband, Officer Edward L. Simanek Sr., added to the granite memorial outside the FOP Hall. Fifty years after Officer Simanek was shot during the 1968 Chicago riots and suffered a catastrophic injury that left him all but incapacitated – and nearly 17 years after succumbing to that injury – Dolores related being overwhelmed by the gone- but-not-forgotten impact of the Lodge 7 Memorial Service.
The everlasting legacy of fallen heroes accentuated at the memorial service also could be felt when Susan Gilbert Mc- Guire presented to Erin Bauer a specially commissioned art- work honoring her husband, Commander Paul Bauer. The ges- ture from Gilbert McGuire, whose husband Eugene served 30 years with the Department before passing from cancer at age 57, exemplified the vow of the blue family to give families of the blue the peace and strength to bear the anguish of their loss.
As the 2018 Lodge 7 Memorial Service served to shine the perpetual light on all Chicago Police Officers and offer a guiding light to their families, the FOP Hall overflowed with, well, love. From the accompaniment of the pipes and drums from the
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Officer Eddie Jackson EOW: March 10, 2003
Patrolman John C. Churchward EOW: March 24, 1864
Officer Austin Fitch EOW: Nov. 24, 1914
Captain Joseph Palczynski EOW March 5, 1935
Officer Edward L. Simanek EOW: Aug. 28, 2001
Officer Bernard W. Domagala EOW: Sept. 5, 2017
Officer Andre Van Vegten EOW: Nov. 2, 2017
Commander Paul R. Bauer EOW: Feb. 13, 2018
Names added to the Lodge 7 Memorial in 2018:
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2018 29