Route 54 through William Penn, Lost Creek dedicated to Francis V. McAndrew
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SENTINEL PHOTO - Margaret "Sissie" McAndrew uncovers a sign dedicating PA Route 54 through Lost Creek and William Penn in memory of her late husband, Francis V. McAndrew, on June 8, 2019.
By Kaylee Lindenmuth
SHENANDOAH – Today, state legislators joined family and friends of the McAndrew family as PA Route 54 through Lost Creek and William Penn were formally dedicated in memory of Francis V. McAndrew.
Joined by Senator David G. Argall and Representatives Jerry Knowles and Neal Goodman, wife Margaret R. “Sissie” McAndrew uncovered one of the pair of signs at the West Mahanoy Township/Shenandoah Borough line.
Goodman sponsored a bill, House Bill 2018, to designate the highway the Francis V. “Angie” McAndrew Memorial Highway, which passed both the house and senate last year.
“We had a house bill that passed, which names, from here to the border of Butler Township, the Francis V. McAndrew dedication for his service as a war veteran, a state policeman, a county sheriff, and a county commissioner,” Goodman said after the dedication.
Francis McAndrew passed away in 2016. He was born in 1944, and was a 1962 graduate of the J.W. Cooper High School in Shenandoah, and a 1977 graduate of Penn State Schuylkill.
“He was a decorated Army veteran, having served during the Vietnam era,” the bill reads “After his honorable discharge from the Army, he graduated from the Pennsylvania State Police Academy, Hershey, and became a Pennsylvania State Trooper and State Police investigator.”
According to the bill, he served with the PSP for 25 years, serving as a patrol officer, a statewide vice and narcotics investigator, a corruption probe investigator, and a criminal investigator. Upon retirement from the PSP, he became a detective with the Schuylkill County District Attorney’s Office, and became sheriff in 1993.
A decade later, he was elected county commissioner in 2007, a post he served in from 2008 to 2011.
Locally, he was a member of the Divine Mercy Parish, Anthony P. Damato American Legion, AMVETS, East End Field and Stream, St. Clair Fish and Game, Veterans of the Vietnam War, Eagles Lodge 1533, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and was a lifelong member of the former West End Fire Company of Lost Creek.
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