World War I hero remembered at ceremony

Date: 6/28/2011

June 29, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — Each day since 1940, millions of vehicles have crossed the Chicopee River over a bridge bearing the name “Deady.” The re-dedication ceremony conducted on June 25 put a face to that name.

Ruth Speight Connor of East Longmeadow was 9 years old in 1940 when she attended the dedication of the first Deady Bridge and now, 71 years later, she attended the re-dedication of the new span across the Chicopee River that commemorates her uncle.

Wearing green T-shirts, members of the Deady family gathered with local officials on June 25 for the short ceremony.

“Chicopee does not forget her soldiers and that is why we are here today,” Mayor Michael Bissonnette said.

Speight Connor never met her uncle. He died in 1918 when, according to city historian Stephen Jendrysik, the young man from Chicopee Falls was cut down during World War I by enemy fire. Deady was killed when crossing a field to retrieve water for his comrades.

Jendrysik recalled that Deady was only 27 years old at the time of his death and was well known in his hometown as a skilled athlete, excelling in baseball.

When Deady lived, the Chicopee Falls area looked substantially different, Jendrysik noted. There was no state highway but there was the long-gone Imperial Hotel and factories that employed 4,000 people.

Formerly an employee of the Fisk Tire Company, Deady was working in Hartford, Conn. when he enlisted, Jendrysik said,

“When his country called, he answered,” Jendrysik explained.

After the hurricane of 1938 had swept away the existing wooden structure across the bridge, a new span was built, Jendrysik said. The members of the Charles Kennedy American Legion Post lobbied successfully for the bridge to be named for a veteran from Chicopee Falls.

A new plaque with information about Deady was erected for the occasion and Bissonnette said city officials are considering where to exhibit the former plaque.

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