Thomas Vincent Welch - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Just one year after his marriage, T.V.Welch died from an attack of typhoid fever, aged 53.At the time of his death, Thomas Vincent Welch was recognized at the "best known and best loved citizen" of Niagara Falls, as stated by the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, who adopted a memorial in their minutes on December 22, 1903 and provided a copy of those minutes to the family of T.V. Welch, pictured to the right. The document reads, in part:

In addition to his services to the State in the Assembly and as Superintendent of the State Reservation at Niagara, he held many positions of trust in the Village and City of Niagara Falls...he was identified with practically every public enterprise in Niagara Falls for the past twenty-five years. His exceptional talents as a public speaker, reinforced by a cultured mind and the unreserved public confidence in his integrity and sincerity, enlarged the scope of his influence, and made him a strong power for good in the community which, at his death, he was recognized as its best known and best loved citizen. By none his death more deeply deplored than by the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, who, as an expression of their sense of loss, hereby adopt this Memorial, this 22nd day of December, 1903, directing that it be spread upon the minutes, and that a copy, suitably engrossed, be presented to the family of the deceased.

T.V.Welch was originally buried in the cemetery of St.Mary's of the Cataract in Niagara Falls. On May 11, 1936 his remains were moved, along with others, to the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Lewiston, New York. His remains rest with those of his family at the South East corner of Section 3 of the cemetery.

On July 15, 2010, a 125th Anniversary celebration was held and the plaque dedicated to T.V.Welch (pictured at the top of this article) was placed on a new stone in the Heritage Park, a new section of the Niagara Falls State Park.