The 55th Annual Houston St. Patrick's Parade
Produced by the
Houston St. Patrick's Parade Commission
Saturday, March
15th, 2014 at Noon-Rain
or Shine!
The Irish Salute Houston's
First Responders: Number One In Our Hearts Always
2014 Grand Marshal:
William “Bill”
Dowling, Houston Fire Department
As many of
you know the Houston Fire Department lost four members on May 31, 2013 in a
5-alarm motel fire.
Captain
William (Bill) Dowling was trapped and severely injured in the fire. Captain
Dowling was in critical condition and due to his injuries both legs were
amputated.
Captain
Dowling is a married father of 3 and he and his family are residents of the
Spring area. His wife, Jacki is a PE teacher at Frank Elementary in Gleannloch.
The fire captain is supported by a close-knit family with deep religious faith
and ties to Houston's earliest days.
One of the
first Dowlings to reach the city in 1850 was Richard “Dick” William Dowling, a
red-haired Irish immigrant and an astute businessman who opened a number of
popular saloons. Dick Dowling was a founding member of Houston's Hook and
Ladder Company Number One fire department and was also involved in running the
city's first streetcar company. During the Civil War, Lt. Dowling commanded an
artillery battery at Sabine Pass in 1863 that repulsed a powerful squadron of
union warships, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
Another
ancestor, Richard Dowling, was a homeless alcoholic who found God and helped
establish the Star of Hope Mission in 1907, one of the city's first ministries
to the homeless.
Generations
later, some of the family's youngest members, Faith, 13, and Foster, 11, have
kept vigil in the John S. Dunn Sr. Burn Center at Memorial Hermann, praying
their father gets well soon.
We Are Proud to Have
Bill Dowling, a Houston Hero, as our Grand Marshal of the 55th Annual Houston St. Patrick's Parade
