{"id":25033,"date":"2019-06-07T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T23:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/frisco-renames-post-office-after-fallen-flight-for-life-pilot-patrick-mahany\/"},"modified":"2019-06-07T17:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T23:44:00","slug":"frisco-renames-post-office-after-fallen-flight-for-life-pilot-patrick-mahany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/frisco-renames-post-office-after-fallen-flight-for-life-pilot-patrick-mahany\/","title":{"rendered":"Frisco renames post office after fallen Flight for Life pilot Patrick Mahany"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Karen Mahany, touches the plaque and the Frisco’s U.S. Post Office location, named after her late husband, Flight For Life Pilot Patrick Mahany, during a dedication ceremony Thursday, June 6, along Main Street in Frisco. Patrick Mahany died in July 2015 after his Flight for Life helicopter crashed into the parking lot near St. Anthony Summit Medical Center after takeoff.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A large crowd piled into the Summit County Community & Senior Center on Thursday afternoon to take part in an emotional ceremony to dedicate the Frisco Post Office in the name of Patrick Mahany.<\/p>\n

Mahany, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a 27-year pilot with Flight For Life, was tragically killed after his helicopter crashed outside of St. Anthony Summit Medical Center<\/a> in Frisco on July 3, 2015. Almost four years after the crash shook the community, friends, family members and representatives around the state gathered for the post office\u2019s renaming and to pay tribute to a man who dedicated his life to helping others.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur post office is a hall of Frisco, and it is important to remember those who make sacrifices to protect and serve others in our great communities of Frisco, Summit County and Colorado,\u201d Frisco Mayor Gary Wilkinson said. \u201cOur post office is a gathering place in the community where people interact and come together and see each other on a daily basis. The naming of our post office in remembrance of Patrick Mahany will honor not just him but all of those who serve our community every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of Mahany\u2019s family were present at the ceremony, sharing some of their memories of him and reflecting on the impact he made on their lives and around the community. Karen Mahany, Patrick\u2019s wife, said her husband loved and laughed intensely, and was always willing to make sacrifices to help others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt struck me then, and it still strikes me today, that that\u2019s who he was,\u201d Karen said. \u201cHe was willing to do whatever it took for his crew, for the people that he loved. He told me that he really truly learned about unconditional love when he served in Vietnam \u2014 being willing to do whatever it takes for someone who\u2019s standing next to you, whether you know them or not. That\u2019s who he was as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen ended her statement with a call to action for community members, asking them to take time out of their day to thank military veterans for their service \u2014 an especially visceral request on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. She also asked community members to display American flags on July 3, the anniversary of Mahany\u2019s death, and on July 4, his favorite holiday.<\/p>\n

Other family members also spoke at the ceremony, including Mahany\u2019s son, Ryan, and brother, Kevin, who urged the crowd to remember Patrick for more than the crash and to reflect on the many communities outside of Summit that Mahany\u2019s death impacted, including in Texas, Maine and New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing we should all think about when we think about Patrick Mahany is the last 30 seconds of his life,\u201d said Ryan, who followed in his father\u2019s footsteps and serves as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army. \u201cBecause the 64 years before were glorious. \u2026 Don\u2019t remember the crash because it\u2019s not the defining moment of his life. His legacy is not that crash at all. His legacy currently resides down in Texas, and they\u2019re 5 years old and 7 years old,\u201d Ryan said, referring to Mahany\u2019s grandkids.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony, it became clear how impactful Mahany\u2019s death has continued to be over the past several years. Gov. Jared Polis was in attendance and spoke about how new legislation informed by Mahany\u2019s crash and pushed forward by Karen Mahany will create better safety standards for helicopter pilots and crews moving forward.<\/p>\n

Last year, Congress passed new regulatory measures requiring helicopter manufacturers to install crash-resistant fuel tanks<\/a> on new emergency helicopters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course the devastation was compounded knowing that Patrick\u2019s death could have been prevented with proper safety regulations that really weren\u2019t required because of loopholes that had been created in previous laws,\u201d Polis said. \u201cBut we were also inspired, and we\u2019re all safer, and it will save many other lives that Karen turned her grief into passion, really sparking a movement pushing for protecting others from suffering the same fate.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to new regulations for helicopter manufacturers, the crash also inspired the introduction of the Safe Helicopters Now Act<\/a> in Congress by Rep. Joe Neguse. If passed, the bill would create a tax credit to help retrofit emergency medical helicopters with crash-resistant fuel systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019ve made great strides in terms of ensuring that safety improvements are made to new helicopters, the same cannot be said for existing helicopters,\u201d Neguse said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that we take the next step so that every single helicopter in the United States is retrofitted with these important safety measures. That\u2019s why we introduced the legislation we have, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re working each and every day that I\u2019m lucky enough to serve in Congress on that front, so we can truly honor Patrick\u2019s memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the ceremony, the congregation made its way to the post office, which officially was renamed as the Patrick. E. Mahany Jr. Post Office Building.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy immortalizing Patrick here today, future generations will truly learn of his dedication, his bravery and his service,\u201d Polis said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Mahany, touches the plaque and the Frisco’s U.S. Post Office location, named after her late husband, Flight For Life Pilot Patrick Mahany, during a dedication ceremony Thursday, June 6, along Main Street in Frisco. Patrick Mahany died in July 2015 after his Flight for Life helicopter crashed into the parking lot near St. Anthony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 19:27:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}