NYACK - Above the din of New York State Thruway traffic, county leaders, law enforcement and community members gathered at the site of a shootout during the bloody Brinks armored car heist that killed three men and rattled a bucolic Rockland to its core.
The ceremony took place 45 years to the day of the Brinks robbery, a terror attack engineered by erstwhile revolutionaries.
The annual memorial ceremony takes place on Mountainview Avenue, by a memorial that stands at the New York State Thruway entrance. It's where, on Oct. 20, 1981, Nyack police officers set up a roadblock as they searched for the perpetrators of the gunpoint robbery at the Nanuet Mall.
Back outside the Nanuet National Bank at the mall, Brinks security guard Peter Paige was shot
and killed.
The robbers made off with $1.6 million.
At a Thruway entrance roadblock, Nyack Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Police Officer Waverly Chipper Brown were slain.
The memorial now stands at the site, meticulously maintained to honor the memory of the slain.
Remembering the Brinks robbery
Rockland County Undersheriff Robert Van Cura, new to the Nyack police force 45 years ago, led the ceremony.
"May we strive each day to live in a way that reflects the best of what Ed, Chip and Peter stood for," said Van Cura, who noted all three were veterans.
Connie Frazier, a cousin of Chipper Brown, thanked Van Cura and the community that continued to lift up the Paige, O'Grady and Brown families.
Diane O'Grady, Sgt. O'Grady's widow, shared her memory of that day. She had rushed to the scene, then to the hospital when told her husband was involved. She stood in the hospital waiting for O'Grady to come out of surgery when she heard, "We lost him."
She was later told O'Grady's last words were: "My poor Diane."
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for lohud.com and the USA Today Network New York. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her on Twitter, Threads and Instagram at @nancyrockland.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland community honors those lost in Brinks robbery 45 years ago
