Edward T. Dempsey is Rye through and through. His grandparents landed here after emigrating from Ireland, living at Park Lane off Milton Road. His father was a carpenter working on a project on Long Island when he met his future wife, who was from Port Jefferson. His mother and father were living with an aunt and uncle in Mineola when Ed was born on July 3, 1922, and immediately returned to Rye after the job ended. Ed’s father then built a home on Manursing Avenue near Midland for his growing family, of which Ed is the eldest of five.
By Bob Marrow
Edward T. Dempsey is Rye through and through. His grandparents landed here after emigrating from Ireland, living at Park Lane off Milton Road. His father was a carpenter working on a project on Long Island when he met his future wife, who was from Port Jefferson. His mother and father were living with an aunt and uncle in Mineola when Ed was born on July 3, 1922, and immediately returned to Rye after the job ended. Ed’s father then built a home on Manursing Avenue near Midland for his growing family, of which Ed is the eldest of five.
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 1941 Rye High School graduate enlisted in the Army, with four of his friends. After basic training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where the trainees lived in a tent city, he was ordered to Victorville, California, in the Mojave desert where the Army Air Corps had constructed a new air base for training pilots and navigators. Ed was assigned to the Fire Brigade, which stood ready to deal with air crashes on landing or take off, as well as normal fires on or near the base.
“I was promoted to sergeant and repeatedly asked to be transferred to gunnery school, or to work on crash trucks in England, where men were actually fighting the enemy, not just in training,” Ed recalled. “It never happened. I was assigned to school for mechanics in Colorado, learning to build, maintain, and repair B-25s. From there I was transferred to Seattle, Washington where Boeing was building B-29s, the large four engine bombers which were the biggest and best planes ever made at the time.”
Just before the war ended, Ed was moved to a base in Roswell, New Mexico, where pilots were being trained. From there, he was assigned to New York’s Mitchell Field, where he was honorably discharged in 1945.
Ed returned to Rye, where he married Joan Brown, also of Rye, November 29, 1947, at Church of the Resurrection. They built a house on Harbor Terrace Drive, where Ed still lives today. Their marriage lasted more than 60 years, until Joan’s death last year, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He remains active as an usher at Resurrection Church, where his late wife was a Eucharistic minister.
The former Rye Department of Public Works employee later worked as an aircraft mechanic at Westchester County Airport, utilizing his training in the Army Air Corps. “In 1946, while I was working at the airport, I joined the Rye Fire Department as a volunteer and was assigned to the Milton Engine & Hose Company at the Milton Avenue firehouse,” Ed said. “I became a professional fire fighter in 1949, driving a Bull Dog Mack Pumper. The biggest fires we fought while I was with the Fire Department were at Playland and American Yacht Club.”
After 35 years with the Rye Fire Department, Ed retired in 1984.
He served as president of the Rye Recreation Senior Club, which has more than 400 members. He was committee chairman for Rye Boy Scout Troop No. 1 and a Rye Little League coach for over 20 years. His son, Terence Dempsey, now a lawyer in White Plains, remembers: “My dad helped run the Little League parade which became a family affair as we helped cook and distribute around 2,000 hot dogs and drinks to the players and families on opening day each year. He got the most fun out of coaching baseball. In addition to his own kids, Dad loved teaching countless other children how to play the game properly while making sure everyone had fun.” Mr. Dempsey also found time to coach the Limerick Team in Rye’s softball league.
For three years, he served as commander of American Legion Post 128 in Rye. He received the Post’s Americanism Award and still is the “point man” for organizing Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies at City Hall. One of his responsibilities as a committee chairman is collecting and replacing American flags. His many contributions to our community were recognized when he was inducted into the Westchester Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in 2003.
Joan and Ed had six children and ten grandchildren. They put all of their children through college. Two of their sons became lawyers and one is a civil engineer. Ed’s daughters attended Berkley Business School and Iona College. One of Ed’s grandsons graduated from West Point and works in military intelligence, while another graduated from Annapolis and is in pilot training with the Navy.
Another grandson, Chris Berry, told us: “My grandfather has always been my role model. When I was young, he would take me to firehouses and to firemen’s parades — all I wanted was to be like him. He was my inspiration to join the volunteer fire service, and today I am a volunteer Fire Department Lieutenant. Grandpa always taught me how to be helpful to those in my community so now, after graduating from Penn State, I am studying to be a trauma surgeon. He has been very influential in my career choice.”
Ed Dempsey has led a heroic life. He volunteered to fight for his country in a World War when victory was far from assured; battled fires on air fields, Army bases and in the City of Rye; raised a family, coached Little League, and led organizations ranging from a Boy Scout troop to an American Legion Post. He’s also the salt of the earth.
