The following is the complete statement sent to the Daily Local News by the family of Avondale State Trooper Kenton E. Iwaniec. Kenton Iwaniec, 24, of Lancaster and formerly of western Pennsylvania, died on March 28 from injuries caused in a March 27 car crash.

I’ll never forget the day Kenton was born. He waited 31 days past his due date to be born on his deceased Grandfather Iwaniec’s birthday. When they placed him in my arms he looked into my eyes and my first thought was, “this baby is much older and wiser than he should be.” Born on a Sunday, as the saying goes, he was fair and wise and good and gay. This reflects Kenton’s kind heart, desire to serve, and happy disposition. I recall the day Kenton was baptized. It was a cold winter day and yet when the priest anointed him with water, a light came through the window and shined right on Kenton. I knew then he was God’s child and I remember telling his father “This baby boy is special.” I was right; Kenton was God’s child; a giving person, a loving person, a caring person, and a good person.

~ Debby Iwaniec

Kenton was the type of son you wanted to carry on the family name. His heart was compassionate, his mind was quick, and he had a sense of humor that was one of a kind. Kenton loved his friends, family, God, and Country. In a few simple words, Kenton lived to serve. He was born with a rare fire, he knew there was something bigger than himself and he was willing to give his life to protect it. Although short, the time we had with Kenton was a blessing and a true gift.

We will never forget the day Kenton came into this world, the day he stood proudly as he was sworn in as a Pennsylvania State Trooper, and the day we laid our only son and brother to rest. If a funeral could be described as beautiful and perfect, Kenton’s was. We are eternally grateful to all those who helped create the honorable tribute which represented the way Kenton lived his life. We knew that Kenton was smiling down on the 4th of April. On that day over 160 State Troopers waited unwavering in the rain to pay Kenton their last respects, construction workers stood in the streets saluting as Kenton passed, friends and family remembered the good times, and although Kenton never knew some of them, men and women of the utmost honor and dignity gathered to celebrate the life of a good man.

We are grateful for all the love and support from the Pennsylvania State Police. Communities should feel great comfort knowing they are in competent hands. Please support our "Soldiers of the Law” and respect the lives and rights of others.

A special thank you goes to the Delaware State Police, the staff of Christiana Hospital , and the Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Home for their assistance during those initial days.

To the Avondale community, your immediate response and helping hands are deeply appreciated. Whether it was responding to the accident, providing food to the Avondale Barracks, making a financial contribution, or keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, we are forever grateful.

Our family extends a sincere thank you to Scott Caruso the director of Galone-Caruso Funeral Home in Mt. Pleasant . His outstanding efforts and warm heart made this most difficult time bearable.

Thank you to friends, family, neighbors, and strangers who walked in off the street to mourn with and comfort our family. Your thoughts, prayers, gentle words, warm embraces, and kind memories of Kenton continue to help us make it through these hard times. The flowers, home cooked food, and donations were overwhelming and let us know that there were people all over the world sharing our pain.

And to Father Robert Byrnes, a friend and mentor to Kenton, the homily delivered during the funeral services was heartfelt and a great tribute to our fallen hero.

Although Kenton’s passion, stories, smile, and memories will live with us forever…something will always be missing. Our family will never be the same. On March 28, 2008 we were forced to start a new life without Kenton. It is a life that will always be filled with a strange sense of loneliness; it is a life that will never be as good as the one we once knew. There will be an empty place at the dinner table and in our hearts. To an outsider, the Iwaniec family will now appear as five, but we know that isn’t right, we should be six. A father won’t be able to hunt with his best friend, a mother won’t be able to cook her son his favorite meal, three sisters won’t be able to take another picture of just “the kids,” and a fiancée won’t be able to marry the man she loves. However, faith holds us to the belief Kenton is in a better place and in that, we find comfort.
We have lost our son, our brother, our fiancé, our grandson, our nephew, our cousin, our friend and our protector. We pray the number of families stripped of a loved one as a result of drunk driving, will decrease. No one should have to experience this pain.

Sincerely,
Ken, Debby, Acacia, Michael, Sashonna, Theron, Ashley, and Julie