The family of murdered Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals is seeking to memorialize him with a bench at a park he frequented in Bayonne.
Seals died in the line of duty in 2019, during the terrorist attack on a Jewish Kosher supermarket in Jersey City. He was shot at Bayview Cemetery prior to the attack when he investigated the U-Haul van the terrorists were in.
Jersey City commemorated Seals’s grave at the Bayview Cemetery on the one-year anniversary of his death in December of 2020. Now, the family is looking for a way to memorialize Seals, a Bayonne native, in his hometown.
“One of Bayonne’s sons, JCPD Detective Joe Seals, was taken from us,” Bayonne Mayor James Davis said on the anniversary of his death. “Detective Seals spent his life working to make the world a safer place. We all grieve the loss of Detective Seals and the others who died that day.”
Memories in the park
COVID-19 restrictions halted the family’s plans to host multiple memorial events throughout 2020, according to the fundraiser page organized by his sister Toniann Seals. Now the family is working to create the Detective Joseph Seals Memorial Fund.
The first step is to purchase a memorial park bench at DiDomenico-16th Street Park, where Seals often took his sister to go fishing or ride bikes. The idea is to have a place for family and friends to visit and reflect on Seals, who touched many lives.
The fundraiser, which sought to collect $2,000 to construct the memorial bench, has exceeded its goal. More than 66 donors have contributed $2,975, and counting.
The extra money and the remainder of Holiday Toy Drive donations will be used for other memorial events as well as to start the Detective Joseph Seals Memorial Fund. The family is also seeking to rename the park in his memory.
Donate to the fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/f/detective-joseph-seals-jcpd-memorial-bench. To donate outside of GoFundMe, send donations via Venmo to @detjoesealsmemorial.
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