Trooper Kenton Iwaniec Memorial Highway Dedication

By Ginger Rae Dunbar

 A memorial was unveiled Monday in honor of fallen Trooper Kenton Iwaniec, who “lived to serve and protect our community.”

A portion of Pennsylvania Route 41 (Gap Newport Pike), between state Route 926 (Street Road) and U.S. Route 1, in London Grove and Londonderry townships, was designated the Trooper Kenton Iwaniec Memorial Highway at a ceremony at the Pennsylvania State Police Troop J Avondale Barracks. Iwaniec served there until he was killed by a drunk driver on March 28, 2008. Iwaniec finished his shift and two miles away from the station, an impaired driver crossed the centerline and struck Iwaniec’s vehicle head-on. He was flown to Christiana hospital where he later died.  

 Cpl. Steven Ranck, who supervised Iwaniec, described him as a caring individual. His friends nicknamed “the shepherd” because he always helped others and acted as the designated driver.  

By Richard Gaw 

Despite the contents of the nearly 1,400-page Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary that contains the vast lexicon of the English language, no one, not even the poets, has been able to string together words that properly unravel the tragedy of a young person's death, or dare to lay beauty and closure down over the grief of such an unfathomable loss.  

It is our aspiration and our will, however, to keep trying. It requires talent to illuminate, in words, the gut wrench description of a young person being taken from us, but more often than not, it's the heart that is best able to convey an act that is often described as a robbery.

On the receiving end, it is luck when we get to hear those words resonate the absolute hollow of truth in our ears.

Last week, in a ceremony to honor a young person who was taken too soon, those words dripped down like the rain that fell on this part of Chester County.

 By Richard Gaw   

Beneath the cover of two large tents that protected them from the rain, the family, friends and colleagues of State Trooper Kenton Iwaniec gathered outside the Pennsylvania Troop J Avondale Barracks on Sept. 17, to not only honor a fallen colleague, but to dedicate a portion of a local highway to him.

In a ceremony filled with heartfelt remembrance and praise, it was announced that the portion of Route 41 between Route 926 and U.S. Route 1 has been renamed the Trooper Kenton Iwaniec Memorial Highway.

The hour-long tribute was highlighted by the words of speakers Judge Patrick Carmody, State Sens. John Rafferty and Andrew Dinniman, Representative John Lawrence, Corporal Steven B. Ranck, Lieutenant Michelle Swantner and Iwaniec's parents, Ken and Deb Iwaniec.