Эдвард Фэрбенкс: 34 года службы в полиции Напервилля и звание «Полицейский для детей»

Edward Fairbanks was born July 30, 1871, in Ballinafad, County Sligo, Ireland, the son of Edward Fairbanks and Martha Maguire. Ed was the oldest child in a family of sixteen. He attended school in a one room schoolhouse. His father was a grocer and an iron monger (hardware dealer) and owned two farms. There were large castles on the states surrounding the farms. Ed worked on the family farms and by the time he was 23, he had enough money to book passage to America. He came to America June 4, 1894, stopping first in New York City to see the sights. Next, he traveled to Salem, Ohio, to visit with two of his cousins. He also traveled to Chicago and found work in a livery stable and then as a driver of a milk delivery wagon for the Bowman Dairy Company. Edward married Ida Matilda Friess on May 9, 1905, in Chicago, and they were the parents of two children, Marian A., who married Frank Wagner, and Carol E., who died at the age of seven on April 4, 1920. In 1906 Ed and Ida moved to Naperville and he went to work as a carver at the Naperville Lounge Factory (Kroehler Furniture). There were only three automobiles in Naperville at that time. He became a naturalized citizen October 19, 1911. Ida died February 1, 1920, and Ed married Mary Magdalena Diener April 22, 1922, in Naperville at the Congregational Church by Rev. William Aitchison. Chauncey William Reed acted as Ed’s best man. In 1913, he was contacted, told to attend the meeting at City Hall and was hired by the Police Department as the night policeman. In 1917, Edward was appointed Chief of Police when then Chief George Anderson resigned the position. He served in that position until 1927. Ed had been injured when an automobile struck his police motorcycle and fractured his leg in 1923. Ed also was injured by armed robbers who stole the Kroehler Furniture Company payroll during the 1939 DuPage County Centennial Celebration. He had escorted Paul Boecker and Carl Finkbeiner from the bank and while leaving the factory, he was struck from behind and knocked unconscious by one of the robbers. The robbers were never caught and made away with several thousand dollars in cash. Through it all, he served in the police department for 34 years, retiring in 1947. Edward was affectionately known as the “Children’s Policeman.” He would stand outside the Naperville National Bank at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Washington Street and greet everyone with a “fine day,” regardless of the weather. Ed was stationed there to assist the school children to safely cross the street. He was raised a Master Mason May 28, 1921, and exalted a Royal Arch Mason on December 12, 1921. Edward Fairbanks died January 21, 1956, in the DuPage County Convalescent Home at Winfield, DuPage County, Illinois and was buried in the Naperville Cemetery. Harvey Cooper Williams: Naperville Business Man, Public-Spirited Citizen