It’s time for this monument to heroic Joe Delaney, 37 years after No. 37’s death
Since the shattering day in June 1983 when Monroe, Louisiana, policeman Marvin Dearman scrambled for his scuba equipment and drove in desperate response to a call of possible drownings at Chennault Park, Dearman has felt a certain connection to Joe Delaney.
Since retrieving from the water and trying to revive the budding star running back for the Chiefs, who died trying to save three children despite being unable to swim himself, Dearman has remained close to the family — which is forever grateful for his valiant effort to save Delaney that day.
He is frequently invited to Delaney family events. A few years ago, he gently escorted Delaney’s widow, Carolyn, to the site of his death for the first time.
To him, it’s a story that his mind can never let go, whether it’s about what might have gone differently that day or what might have been since … even nearly 20 years since he retired from the department and almost four decades since Delaney’s death.
Thirty-seven years on June 29, to be precise, a time-frame that recently inspired an idea in Dearman.
Or maybe it was something more.
The morning after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV, Dearman wrote in an email, he woke up “with a revelation.”
“Joe drowned 37 years ago, and his jersey number was 37,” he wrote. “I felt that was an omen.”
Dearman, who has worked the last 12 years managing Kilpatrick’s Serenity Gardens funeral home, suddenly was consumed by the notion that it was time for a fitting monument by the pond where Delaney died.
Now, sure there is a Joe Delaney Memorial Park in Haughton, his hometown, and a Delaney 37 Foundation. And Delaney’s daughter Joanna has written two children’s books she is seeking to have published about “Joe The Great,” a caped crusader who saves the day … along with his dog, King. He is in the Chiefs’ Ring of Honor.
But this would mean a different sort of recognition altogether, acknowledging the void at the site of such painful emptiness. And maybe in some way further helping the family. And perhaps allowing Dearman to find something that could resemble closure … or at least more peace.
So he called Carolyn Delaney, and they met up to talk it over.
Naturally, she was all for it.
“I think it’s wonderful that they want to do something,” she said Friday.
Earlier this week, he went before the Monroe City Council to seek permission and didn’t know what to expect.
“They gave Joe a standing ovation,” he said in a phone interview Friday. “I had never experienced anything like that. There were probably 50 or 60 people in the room.
“You know how you just get overwhelmed sometimes? I was standing at a podium, and I just started walking in a circle. I didn’t know what to do.”
Since he now is in the cemetery and monument business, Dearman had his supplier draw up a design and emailed a proof to The Star that featured a stirring epitaph.
Noting the Presidential Citizen’s Medal Delaney was bestowed posthumously by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, the proposed text continues:
“He made the ultimate sacrifice by placing the lives of three children above regard for his own safety. By the supreme example of courage and compassion, this brilliantly gifted young man left a spiritual legacy for all fellow Americans.”
It then would add, “#37 Kansas City Chiefs” before being underscored with words of scripture that can be found on Delaney’s gravestone about 85 miles west in Haughton: “Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for another.”
Further affirming Dearman’s sense that this is divinely inspired: When he contacted his supplier in Elberton, Georgia, to get a price for the monument, some combination of his contact knowing Delaney’s story and the business being in the hometown of Chiefs’ receiver Mecole Hardman led to Dearman getting what he called “a big discount” on the cost — less than $2,000.
And when we got talking about it Friday, an idea came to mind: Might some people be willing and able to contribute $37 toward the cause?
“I love that,” said Dearman, whose hope is the monument can be prepared and delivered in time to be dedicated around the time of the anniversary this summer.
If more than the amount needed comes in to the foundation, he said, it would be applied in part to a larger monument or remain a donation to the foundation.
Those interested in contributing can send checks made out to Kilpatrick’s Serenity Gardens, with Delaney 37 Foundation in the memo line, addressed to Kilpatrick’s Serenity Gardens, 8729 Cypress St., West Monroe, Louisiana, 71291.
“This was meant to be,” Dearman said.
And here’s hoping it’s meant to lend a soothing touch to a never-ending story of both tragedy and inspiration.