Fallen CPD Officer Conrad Gary Laid To Rest

CHICAGO, IL -- The first of two Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty was laid to rest on a cold blustery afternoon. A crowd of more than 1,000 police officers, dignitaries and family members filed into St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel Friday morning behind the flag-draped casket of 31-year-old Officer Conrad Gary. Included in the entourage was Gary’s 6-month-old daughter, Tess, who was placed into the arms of a Chicago police officer and carried out of the chapel before the service began.

Gary and fellow officer Eduardo Marmolejo, 36, were fatally struck by a commuter train on the Far South Side as they investigated a person shooting a gun. The young officer had joined the Chicago police force in March 2017.

The young officer was remembered as a go-to guy at the police training academy encouraging and supporting classmates at the police training academy. After he completed his training, Gary was assigned to Chicago’s 5th Police District, which has been plagued by tragedy this year.

Chicago police chaplain, Rev. Dan Brandt, said Gary quickly gained a reputation around the Calumet station as an officer quick to provide backup.

“He was that kind of person, always putting others before himself,” Brandt said during Gary’s funeral. “I was told you could count on Conrad for anything.”

In his emotional remarks during the funeral, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said it has been a difficult year for the Chicago Police Department, which has seen four officers killed in the line of duty this year.

“They have brought tears to our eyes, sorrow to our souls and hurt to our hearts. And as solemn as it is written, God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name,” the mayor said.

CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that being a police officer is more than a job, but a calling.

“They were determined to get an illegal weapon off the streets of Chicago,” Johnson said. “That’s what police do. Their only concern was getting the gun off the streets.”
At the end of the Mass of Christian Burial, Cardinal Blaze Cupich told the congregation to take heart in Gary’s infant daughter, Tess.

“The way that she will smile and walk but also the way in which generosity will spontaneously and almost naturally spring in her heart,” Cupich said. “For they will be a reminder that he lives on in her …”

Gary grew up in Oak Lawn with two brothers, Mike and Dave. During the Mass, his parents Kim and Michael were praised for raising an exceptional son. Gary attended St. Gerald School before going on to Oak Lawn Community High School, where he graduated in 2005. Teachers at OLCHS remembered him as hardworking and considerate student. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 2009, then spent five years serving in the U.S. Air Force. He and his wife, Kelly, had just started their family with baby daughter Tess.

Fire engines from Merrionette Park and Orland Park raised their ladders over 111th Street, unfurling large American flags. More than 300 police vehicles representing departments throughout Illinois, streamed down 111th Street as the funeral cortege made its way to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip. A small crowd gathered outside the gates, holding military and American flags, watching the hearse bearing Gary’s body turned into the cemetery, where the young police officer was laid to rest.

~ Photos and video by Patch Editor Lorraine Swanson