Our 2020 St. Patrick's Parade Grand Marshals
Patricia “Patty” Ferry has been a life-long resident of Atlantic County. Growing up in Ventnor she attended St. James Grammar School and Holy Spirit High School. Patty has been employed in the Banking Industry in Atlantic and Cape May Counties for the past 39 years with a specialty in Banking Security and Identity Theft Prevention. Patty brought Identity Theft Prevention training and seminars to a wide range of schools, nonprofit organizations and senior care facilities throughout Atlantic and Cape May Counties.
Patty has served on various Board of Directors such as the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce, Atlantic City Rotary, Contact Cape Atlantic and Margate Business Association.
Patty has served as the Financial Advisor for The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of South Jersey for the past 20 years. Patty continues the Ferry family participation in an organization which began at her grandfather’s hotel, The Graham, back in 1935. The
national organization of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick dates back to 1771. The South Jersey Chapter is focused on providing up to $5,000.00 per year in scholarships.
Patty resides in Ventnor with her fiancé, John P. Conner, Sr. Patty is the proud parent of Richard A. Ferry, his wonderful wife Emily and three amazing grandchildren Jaxx, William and Jessie.
Timothy Friel was born in Atlantic City on January 17, 1958 to Martin and Nancy {Keebler) Friel. Tim is the 3rd of 6 boys in the Friel clan, all who still reside in the area. He was raised in the Chelsea Heights section of Atlantic City, where he attended Our Lady Star of the Sea. As his Irish Catholic heritage demanded, Tim and his 5 brothers all served as Altar Boys. He attended Holy
Spirit High School where he was a 4 year member of the football team, winning the SJ Parochial championship his senior year. He attended ACC and obtained his BA degree in Criminal Justice.
Following in his father's footsteps {Sgt Martin Friel), he became a proud and dedicated member of the Atlantic City Police Department in July of 1985. He was blessed to have a very fulfilling and safe 30 years with the department. He was fortunate to be able to experience many areas of his profession including patrol, Vice, Major Crimes, and Internal Affairs. Tim was a longtime member of the Crisis/Hostage Negotiation Team and the Critical Incident Stress Management Team. He became the commander of both of these units and is proud to state that his Negotiating Team achieved a 100% success rate. If a person was threatening suicide or holding another person hostage, if his team got there before the person made a fatal decision then all parties were rendered safe and secure. Over his 30 year tenure Tim received numerous awards and accolades, including being named Detective of the Year in 1989. He was presented this award at the Trump Marina Casino by the co-emcees for this event - his father, Sgt Martin Friel and Mr. Donald Trump, our current president. Tim retired in 2015 as the Deputy Chief of Investigations.
Tim is a faithful member of Holy Trinity parish in Margate, NJ. He has attended training courses though the Catholic Charites organization, and recently completed training to be a volunteer mentor to US military veterans who find themselves in the criminal justice system and are accepted into the new Veteran's Diversionary Program. He is also looking forward to volunteering with the "Cold Case Squad" at the Atlantic County Prosecutors office. Here he will join other former detectives to brainstorm over old open homicide cases in an attempt to solve them and give closure to the victim's families.
Tim lives in Margate, NJ and is blessed with 3 sons, Tim Jr., Ryan, Jimmy, and 3 stepchildren, Jack, Rachel, and Bridget Migone. He is blessed with a lovely wife, Sabina Wal h-Friel, who is also retired Atlantic City Police officer. While on the police department Tim had the honor of driving the lead vehicle down the boardwalk of every St. Pat's parade from 2005 through 2015. He is humbled and privileged to be selected to be the co-Grand Marshall of the 2020 St. Patrick's Day Parade.