Antonian welcomed Mr. Kevin Lilly to present the inaugural Chief Albert J. Lilly Law Enforcement and Military Memorial Scholarship. Mr. Lilly is an Antonian graduate of the class of 1978. While he was a student at Antonian, Mr. Lilly's father, Mr. Albert Joseph (AJ) Lilly, served as Antonian's Dean of Students from 1975-1977.
Last year, Mr. Lilly and his wife, Lesley, visited and toured Antonian's campus, including the new Pettit Family Center for Academic Excellence and the Crane Family Learning Center. Inspired by the growth, Mr. Lilly decided to not only make a generous contribution to our capital campaign, but to establish an endowment to provide a scholarship each year to an Antonian senior in memory of his father.
Chief Albert J. Lilly was born in 1918 in an Irish neighborhood in the Bronx, NY and there attended Catholic schools. His family had immigrated to the city and eventually built the largest meatpacking company in New York. Chief Lilly had an extensive career in public service, which included a dynamic military career in which he served under President Eisenhower as head of Air Force Security, and then head of U.S. Security Forces in Vietnam. At the conclusion of his long military career, Chief Lilly came to Antonian to teach history and would then later serve as Dean of Students. He stayed with Antonian until taking a position as Chief of Police for Universal City, Texas in 1976, where he served until just before his death in 1996.
With honor, Mr. Lilly today presented the first scholarship to senior Iliana Barrera. Among other criteria that Iliana met was that the recipient should have an affiliation with law enforcement or the military. Iliana's father serves as a Baliff through the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
We thank Mr. and Mrs. Lilly for their time and investment in our students. Chief Lilly made a commitment to public service and his legacy continues to positively impact the students at Antonian today.
