I will be one of those lining the highway, in spirit, with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Farrell, 24, died April 28 after enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire in the Nejrab District of Afghanistan’s Kapisa Province. Another soldier also was killed.
According to the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, after Farrell’s body arrives at Stewart by plane Wednesday morning, the motorcade will leave the airport between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. and travel on state Route 747 to Interstate 84 and then onto the Thruway, heading north.
The motorcade will get off the Thruway at Exit 19 (Kingston) and proceed onto state Route 28 west and then U.S. Route 209 south. It will stay on Route 209 through Hurley and Marbletown; get off Route 209 in the town of Rochester to pass Rondout Valley High School, where Farrell graduated in 2008; then return to Route 209 via Kyserike Road and proceed south to the Skate Time 209 roller rink in Accord.
The motorcade will include Farrell’s family, members of the U.S. military, the Accord and Kripplebush fire departments, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the state police and the Patriot Guard Riders and is expected to expand after it gets off the Thruway.
Rondout Valley school district Superintendent Rosario Agostaro said the motorcade is expected to reach the high school/middle school campus between 11 a.m. and noon and that students will be excused from classes so they can, if they wish, stand outside and pay their respects.
“Hopefully this allow our kids to honor Shawn and his family,” Agostaro said. “We want to be respectful and dignified in the way we honor him.”
The superintendent said the students are being asked to wear red because “Shawn’s parents told me his favorite color was red.”
