Mural to slain cop acquires new life in Manayunk

IT WASN'T until the mural dedicated to her fallen husband's memory was being repainted 30 years later that Stephanie Farrell had the chance to meet the original artist.

Yesterday, the police widow and the artist, Donna Persico, stood side by side, as members of the 5th Police District rededicated the resurrected mural in honor of Officer Garrett "Gary" Farrell, who was shot and killed on duty in 1980.

The mural sat weatherbeaten and faded near the corner of Main Street and Green Lane, in Manayunk, when Persico was urged by the community to resurrect it in keeping with her original vision of creating a symbol depicting the strong bonds of her riverside neighborhood.

Ironically, Stephanie Farrell wasn't even aware of the memorial until she read a story about the plan to refurbish the mural in a local newspaper.

"I went through the phone book and found Donna Persico's number and spoke with her brother, and here I hit the right house," said Farrell, who ended up helping in the repainting. "I just told her I wanted to participate, whatever she wanted me to do."

"We had already started the mural," Persico said. "I think we were into the second day of the mural when she heard we were redoing it, and she was like 'Oh my god', and she looked me up in the phone book. It was crazy."

"I'm very happy I was able to meet with Donna Persico, we had a great time in doing this mural and the whole time remembering Gary," Farrell said.

On Sept. 27, 1980, Officer Gary Farrell was killed chasing down a thief who had stolen a 72-year-old woman's purse. The shooter was on weekend leave from prison when he stole from the woman.

The mural was originally designed to recognize local soldiers who fought in Vietnam, but after news reached the neighborhood of Farrell's death, the plans were changed to memorialize the local hero.

The 37-feet-long, eight feet-high mural is a white rectangle featuring an oval toward the middle with a rainbow over the landmark Manayunk arched bridge and the Schuylkill River. A symbol of connected hands holding each other in the form of a cross is depicted beside Farrell's badge.

Bob Ballentine, recording secretary of the Fraternal Order of Police, promised to install a plaque in memory of Farrell that will be placed in the middle of the mural sometime this month.

"I'm here to let everyone know that this mural is in a place of honor and will be treated as hallowed ground by the members of the 5th District," Ballentine said. "They stand ready to safeguard this mural and the memory of Gary Farrell."

"The first time we did it, it was just me and four little boys, so this time so many different people came and painted in different shifts," Persico said. "They just rotated on different days, total strangers would be walking by and say, 'Mind if I paint?' I mean, they would get up on the scaffold. It was a wonderful experience."

The repainting was an experience Stephanie Farrell will never forget.

"I had a blast, a great time," said Farrell, who now splits her time between the Jersey shore and Manayunk. "They had a lot of kids painting before on the original, and there were a lot of children from the neighborhood that painted this mural that are now grown, so there's generations after generations that have a hand in this mural."