OBITUARY

John Patrick Tinneny

1916 - 1988 

John P. Tinneny, Officer In City’s Mounted Police. John P. Tinneny, a former mounted police officer and civic activist died yesterday at Jeanes Hospital in Fox Chase after a lengthy illness. He was 71.

Mr. Tinneny, who lived in the city’s Shawmont section, had earned a reputation as the “guardian angel” of the Schuykill. For the last 30 years he had advocated the river’s cleanup. He lobbied planning commissions, politicians, environmental groups and anyone else who would listen, pushing for a more beautiful waterway and more city-sponsored recreation programs along the river’s banks and connecting canals. 

His son Terrence, said Mr. Tinneny often could be found rowing on the river, hiking on the trails or scooping up trash along the banks. 

He is survived by his wife, Helen Diamond Tinneny; five sons, Richard, Terrence, Paul, Kevin and Gary; two daughters, Michele Johnston and Donna Marie Persico; 20 grandchildren; two brothers, Thomas and Donald and three sisters, Mary Haughey, Claire Kelly and Gertrude Gallagher. 

A viewing will be held Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Koller Funeral Home, Roxborough. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m., at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Andorra. Burial is at Westminister Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd.  Published Sunday, Feb. 28, 1988 - The Philadelphia Inquirer.

John was the son of James and Gertrude Spence Tinneny of Philadelphia and the grandson of Patrick “Yankee Pat” Tinneny of Goladuff, Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland,; Greenock, Scotland and Philadelphia and his wife Margaret Malloy.