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In 1955, after serving in Korea
with the U.S. Army, Francis J. Connelly joined the New York Police Department. He worked a variety of assignment
on NYPD and retired in 1975 as a lieutenant. Francis J. Connelly is the author of By Reason
of Childhood; Beyond By Reason of Childhood; and, Jesus Says.
According to the book description of
Jesus Says, “The urge to write came to a boil late in life when his daughter Catherine, and
her husband Tom presented him with a computer on his 70th birthday. "Jesus Says" is his third, and most ambitious
effort, and according to Frank, "It was a labor of love, and an honor to write about the words of Jesus." Jesus
loves you. So much so, that according to the divine plan, He became man, and when He was 30 yrs. of age He commenced an earthly
ministry lasting three years during which Jesus suffered the scorn and rejection of those He had come to save. He preached
a Gospel of repentance, forgiveness of sins, and salvation paid for by His suffering and death on the cross. His love for
you knows no bounds. You are never alone. Jesus is with you. He is ready to listen to your prayers. Pray to him. Say His name;
it is magic. The great irony of this world is that so many reject Jesus, opting instead for shallow and transient values offered
by Satan in exchange for their immortal souls.”
According to the book description of
By Reason of Childhood, “Through experiences both poignant and comical, sifted mysteriously
through the sleeve of his family history, Frankie emerges as an anxious yet mysteriously through the sieve of his family history,
Frankie emerges as an anxious yet intrepid survivor.”
According to the book description of
Beyond By Reason of Childhood, “Come along for the ride as the less-than-intrepid, insecure
author Francis “Frank” J. Connelly picks up where By Reason of Childhood left off—walking down life’s
highway, represented by Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn, New York.
Beyond by Reason of Childhood begins
with Connelly en route to the U.S. Army induction center on Whitehall Street. From there, it’s merely a series of hops,
skips, and jumps to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for basic training; Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, for Morse Code Intercept Operator
training; and on to the mountains, valleys, and rice paddies of South Korea. Fourteen months later, after an honorable discharge
from the military, Frank meets Anne Marie Fleming. The couple marry, and, as time slips away, they find themselves being compared
to a five-and-dime (for their five children and ten grandchildren).
Along the way, Connelly works at various
jobs: hauling cable for Western Electric, growing hair for Wybrandt Hair and Scalp Specialists, and spending twenty years
on the New York Police Department. Near the end of his career in law enforcement, mental and physical difficulties and the
debilitating effects of hypoglycemia take their toll on Connelly. Will his story have a happy ending?”
According to one reader of Beyond By Reason of Childhood,
“Most new writers usually suffer a sophomore slump: somehow their sequels never hold up to the success of the first
book. This is not the case with Francis Connelly's "Beyond By Reason of Childhood". This continuation of his
autobiography takes us from Mr. Connelly's boyhood in Brooklyn to his manhood.
Like the original, this follow-up is filled with the colorful characters that
one can only find on the streets of New York City. More precisely, the people Mr. Connelly came in contact with during his
many years in the New York Police Department border incredibility. (Then again, only policemen come across the most bizarre
of human beings.) As a balance to this, however, are his intimate relations with his friends, and, especially his wife and
five children. Special candor is displayed by Mr. Connelly when he describes his bouts with nicotine and alcohol dependencies,
and his health problems--specifically, hypoglycemia.
The book also covers a wide-range of subjects: know-nothing "connect the
dots" judges, army life, 9/11, etc. And Mr. Connelly's opinions are never disguised. His views on life are often
poignant, but the way expresses them are so perfect. My favorite appears near the end of the book: "I
never forget a kindness, but sometimes it takes me a long time to remember it. Come to think of it though, in a lifetime,
how many do we receive, and more importantly, how many do we render?"
Good question. But,
as in the first book, there is a load of irony and humor throughout "Beyond By Reason of Childhood" to temper the
seriousness. This is Mr. Connelly's unique gift: to draw out the humor from a seemingly humorless world.”
Another reader of By Reason
of Childhood said it “is a frank remembrance of a youth spent on Brooklyn's sidewalks. While reading
it, I was struck by how Mr. Connelly's book was a sort of male version of Betty Smith's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN.
The impossible task of coping with an alcoholic father, the toughing it out in the streets, the quick allies and enemies of
childhood, all come together in this open and, often times, funny narrative. Qualities you don't find very frequently
these days. The fact is, you have to learn to laugh at life, especially when it tends to frown at you; this is the subtext
of BY REASON OF CHILDHOOD. It is a powerfully taught lesson which, to Mr. Connelly's credit, is conveyed to us through
this wonderful book.”
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