He Made NYC an Emerald City

Sidewalks with Tom Deignan

He Made NYC an Emerald City

November 7, 2007

by Tom deignan

ON Tuesday, Novem-ber 5, the New York Police Department Emerald Society held its monthly general meeting at St. Andrew’s Church hall in downtown Manhattan.

Among the events planned for the evening was the handing out of the Patrick J. O’Connor Medal of Valor. In 1971, Patrolman O’Connor was struck by an out-of-control truck and killed in the line-of-duty while helping a motorist in Brooklyn.

This is the type of noble honor — rooted in history, earned with heroism — for which groups such as the Emerald Society exist.

Also at the meeting this week, the NYPD’s Emerald Society had to acknowledge the passing of a legend who helped bring the Emerald Society –- and all others like it across the country -– into existence.

William Francis McNeely, a retired detective who was born in Brooklyn before moving to Staten Island, died at the age of 82. His wife of over 50 years, Mary, was by his side when he passed.

McNeely was a Navy veteran who fought during World War II and he joined the NYPD in 1948. He was one of the first organizers of the Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which has become one of the top two or three parades (aside from the big one on Fifth Avenue) in the entire New York area.

Perhaps most interesting in terms of McNeely’s Irish American background, however, is that he was a founding member of the NYPD’s Emerald Society, the fraternal group for the city’s Irish cops.

McNeely’s passing, first and foremost, is a grave loss for his friends and family.

“He led the most amazing life and never allowed himself to be trapped by conventional thought or reason,” one grandson told the Staten Island Advance. “I’m going to miss the boom of his voice, the blatant inappropriateness of his stories and the invulnerable feeling I’d experience when he’d kiss me hello.”

One post on the famous NYPD Rant web site added: “To say (McNeely) was a legend in the NYPD and Emerald Society is an understatement. He will be missed. The Emerald functions will never be the same without Bill.”

McNeely’s passing also serves as a reminder that Emerald Societies, which have spread like wildfire across New York City, state and the nation, have only somewhat recently become a part of the fabric of Irish America.

It is tempting to believe that since the NYPD has always been heavily Irish there has always been an NYPD Emerald Society. You might even say the same thing about the FDNY, not to mention the heavily Irish police and fire departments all over the New York area.

But Emerald Societies are a recent creation.

The NYPD Emerald Society is believed to be the first such organization in America. It was formed (fittingly) on St. Patrick’s Day eve, March 16, 1953. McNeely and others were present at the creation, though it is also important to add that numerous Irish American female NYPD employees were also integral to the Society’s founding.

Doris Burke, Lillian Reilly, Mary Paterson and Eileen Romancheck were some of them policewomen who wanted to begin an Irish police fraternal organization. They went out and recruited its first members. When the society’s charter was established about 40 charter members were present, including William McNeely.

Interestingly, according to the Emerald Society, there was actually concern among other NYPD officers in the group’s early days. After all, some argued, the department was so heavily Irish, wouldn’t a group such as the Emerald Society become excessively influential?

Some people even tried to stop the group from forming. But that would have been like stopping a force of nature. The Emerald Society’s founders tapped into something vital within the Irish American community.

The NYPD Emerald Society’s Pipe and Drums band formed in the 1960s, as did the FDNY’s. So many Emerald Societies began to spring up that the by the 1970s, the Grand Council of United Emerald Societies was formed.

Today, that nationwide group estimates that over 10,000 Irish Americans celebrate their heritage via a workplace Emerald Society.

William McNeely, retired detective, father of five, was one of them.

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