By Danny McCarthy
According to an undated The Peconic Bay Shopper article by Becky Terry relating an oral history on Norman Rockwell, if he had lived in Southold or a nearby village, his imagination would have soared. “He might have been just as inspired by the bucolic scenes and the rural characters with their small town qualities.” Rockwell’s models were often ordinary folks, perhaps friends or neighbors. Here in Southold he would find the same honest American types.
At one time Southold Town had just three policemen. So much has changed. “Back in the day” one could hear “Patsy Kelly, the aviator cop” overhead soaring in his Piper Cub. He navigated the roads on motorcycle as well. Among some of his other roles included marriage counseling, babysitting, dog catching or as a school crossing guard. One could say it was always “go call Pat Kelly.”
He was considered a cherished and respected friend to many Southolders, both young and older as well.
James Patrick (“Pat”) Kelly was paid $5 a day. He was assigned to patrol from Orient to Peconic, being appointed for three months at a time, but to be available 24 hours a day. During the years of temperance, he had to watch as “truck after truck rolled along bumpy Route 25 to New York.” One could wonder was he ever allowed to interfere and he said in a July 28, 1984 Newsday article, “We couldn’t touch them, or we wouldn’t get appointed again. We were supposed to watch out for hijackers, though.” Pat served 36 years on the Southold Town police force.
Pat recalled that one of the big events for his family at Christmastime was attending Midnight Mass at Southold’s St. Patrick’s Church. According to an undated Peconic Bay Shopper about Christmas Memories by Becky Terry, Pat Kelly’s father insisted that the family all go together to that religious celebration. Pat’s mother (Rosanna Fagan Kelly) served lots of Italian macaroni during the holiday season plus cabbage and potatoes.
Town Historian Antonia Booth said Pat Kelly’s birth certificate says he was actually born Patrick James Kelly in Greenport on March 3, 1902. The Kelly family came to Southold from County Armagh in Ireland during the winter months. Pat’s father, Patrick Kelly, worked at the Sanford Brickyard. When Pat was 14 years old he worked at the brickyard also. Pat later became a carpenter and crossing guard and of course a member of the Southold Town police force. He also served the Eagle Hook & Ladder No. 3 fire company.
His serving as aviator cop included teaming up with photographer Hugo Frey. An example can be found in the March 2, 1994 Peconic Bay Shopper where Greenport is pictured in a photo taken by Hugo Frey from the late 1920s. Jerry McCarthy describes the photo as: “This aerial view of Greenport with Shelter Island in rear shows the Breakwater jetty far left, the H. W. Sweet Shipyard, the Percy Tuthill Shipyard (later August Reiter’s Yard), and the Greenport Basin & Construction Shipyard showing the 260-foot yacht Aztec, owned by Albert C. Burrage. The Aztec registered out of Boston, served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. In command of Captain Jason Hilton, she took part in a daring rescue of Canadian troops from a sinking ship. The large vessel at Main Street Dock is the Vera Gordon Rowe, owned by the Rowe Oyster Co. of New Haven, Connecticut. They had large oyster grounds in Peconic Bay. West of Main Street Dock we have Capt. Dave Tuthill’s Gas Dock (we believe the large Connecticut oysterboat Americus is in port.) A few more docks west we have the Mills Oyster Co. with their boats Mascot and Napeague at the dock. The Gaffga Engine Works and the Wood & Chute Shipyard were here during the 1920s. The Greenport Oyster Co. was in right foreground with their fleet of oysterboats, the MacDonough, Fannie W., Willie M., George T. and the Richmond. Far right shows part of the railroad dock (not sure of vessel tied up – it may be Coast Guard Cutter 833, a converted Rum Runner in command of Boss Ralph McCurdle). The three-story wooden Grammar School building is in the foreground, erected in 1879 with a very impressive bell tower.” The photo is courtesy of the collection of Mike Richter Photography.
“Pat” Kelly was known as “Badge One.” He had served from 1928 to 1964. He wore shield Number One but was not Southold’s first law enforcement officer. Joseph M. Walters, police constable from 1919 to 1928, held that distinction and may have passed the badge number on to Kelly. Kelly had the longest seniority at the time. The Southold Town Police was a constabulary and not an organized force in Kelly’s time. He never rose above the rank of officer but his portrait was long on display in police headquarters in Peconic. His photograph also appears in a 1939 history of Southold and in the Southold Town 350th Anniversary Journal published in 1990.
There are no files on Kelly’s years of service but there was hardly ever a bad word mentioned about him. John Stankewicz, a Southold Fire Commissioner, remarked that Pat Kelly was a fixture out here. He said “Everybody in Southold knew Pat Kelly.”
Southold fourth-grade teacher Edward Graham purchased a Christmas tree every year from Pat Kelly for more than 20 years. He would cut the tree right in Kelly’s yard. Mr. Graham said that Pat Kelly made a small amount of money selling evergreen trees and bushes. Graham would be charged $4 but Graham would insist on paying five. “Every time we went he’d be out there tending his trees. He always had a rake or shovel in his hands.” Graham said Pat Kelly told stories about the years he worked in a brickyard and of loading bricks onto schooners at what is now Goldsmith’s marina just east of Graham’s house.
Pat Kelly contracted Lyme Disease and later Alzheimer’s Disease. Police would check Kelly’s home because he lived alone and was found wandering near his home sometimes. He did have family and daycare workers who looked after him, Southold Police Chief Stanley Droskoski said. Kelly was known as part of the police family who attended PBA meetings after he retired. Pat Kelly wore a PBA jacket right up until his demise.
According to an undated Traveler article titled A Life, an Era, Come to an End, reporter Tim Kelly shared that: “A line of pennies and other change and scuff marks on a bush at the water’s edge were found at the scene.” Kelly’s body was found at 10:30 on a Wednesday morning in the water between the dock and a bulkhead at the Port of Egypt Marina. This location was only about a half-mile from the house where Pat Kelly was born and lived all his life. A marina employee checking on a boat found Pat Kelly’s body. He may have stumbled over a concrete abutment at the end of the parking field and tumbled down a steep embankment into the basin. Kelly was a month shy of his 91st birthday.
Originally - I helped Gail Horton in The Peconic Bay Shopper within the March 2013 edition.:
