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Connelly Medal
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The Robert P. Connelly Medal "for service beyond the call of duty." |
| On Friday, September 23, 1966, Kiwanian Robert P. Connelly, age 34, lost his life attempting to rescue a crippled woman who had fallen in the path of an onrushing passenger train.
The act of heroism took place during the annual Kids' Day Peanut Sale of the Kiwanis Club of Lisle, Illinois. Suddenly, a young woman with artificial legs lost her balance and fell to the tracks directly in front of an approaching train. Robert rushed to the aid of the stricken woman. But his heroic action was in vain. Before he could pull the woman from the tracks, the train was upon them, and both were lost.
Shortly after this heroic deed, the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees established the Robert P. Connelly Medal "for service beyond the call of duty." The purpose of the medal was to honor " the tremendous and dramatic meaning he put into the phrase 'personal involvement,' which is so much a part of Kiwanis philosophy."
The Medal, which bears Robert's likeness, is to honor others who also risk death or physical harm when "they might just as well have passed along the way."
* On the circular medal is a bronze likeness of Robert Connelly and the words "For service beyond the call of duty". The medal is mounted on a walnut board. Below the medal, a rectangular metal plate bears the recipient's name and a thumbnail description of the act of heroism.
The first Connelly medal was presented in 1967 to Mrs. Robert P. Connelly in Robert's memory during the 52nd Annual Kiwanis International Convention in Houston, Texas. About a dozen individuals receive the Robert P. Connelly Medal for Heroism each year.
Nominations for recipients of the Connelly Medal must be made by Kiwanis clubs for a person, Kiwanian, or non-Kiwanian:
* "Who actually risks death or physical harm by accepting personal responsibility;
* Who has no official responsibility for the person rescued;
* Who performs the act of heroism in a non official capacity (exception would be a military man on leave, voluntarily risking his life or health to save a person from harm); and
* Who is not closely related to the person rescued.
The OPK nominees who have been awarded this medal are listed below along with the year the medal was given.
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| Nicholas Cauthen in 1996 |
Trevor Farley in 2002 |
Castenada in 2006 |
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