2021 Pennsylvania Consolidated & Unconsolidated Statutes
Act 12 - REVEREND ANDREW WILLIAM TILLY, JR., BRIDGE - DESIGNATION

An Act

Designating the bridge, identified as Bridge Key 8659, carrying State Route 3037, also known as William Penn Avenue, over the Norfolk Southern and Lehigh Valley Rail Management rail lines in the City of Johnstown, Cambria County, as the Reverend Andrew William Tilly, Jr., Bridge.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  The Reverend Andrew William Tilly, Jr., Bridge.

(a)  Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1)  The Reverend Andrew William Tilly, Jr., was born on July 30, 1926, in Plaquemine Parish, Louisiana, where he attended elementary school and high school.

(2)  After completing the pre-medicine program at Xavier University, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Reverend Tilly studied science in the graduate program at the University of New Mexico.

(3)  Before completing his studies at the University of New Mexico, Reverend Tilly entered the United States Army, attending the Brooke Army School of Medical Technology at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

(4)  An Army Sergeant, Reverend Tilly served proudly in World War II with the F Company, 85th Infantry, at Fort Riley, Kansas.

(5)  Upon receiving his doctor of divinity degree from Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, Reverend Tilly was ordained a Baptist minister.

(6)  Prior to moving to Johnstown, Reverend Tilly was an associate pastor of Vine Memorial Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

(7)  Beginning in 1965, Reverend Tilly pastored the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Johnstown for 47 years.

(8)  Reverend Tilly profoundly changed the greater Johnstown area in the most positive way.

(9)  Reverend Tilly established the Pleasant Hill Baptist Youth Fellowship, which mentored children on Christian education, values, self-esteem, American citizenship, self-responsibility, love and respect for others.

(10)  In 1968, Reverend Tilly established the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day, one of the longest-running celebrations of Dr. King's legacy in Pennsylvania.

(11)  Reverend Tilly, a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, recruited hundreds of disadvantaged students across Pennsylvania, giving them an opportunity for a college education.

(12)  Reverend Tilly ordained dozens of reverends and deacons and was honored by the Pennsylvania and National Baptist Conventions for outstanding service.

(13)  Reverend Tilly is respected in greater Johnstown for his beautiful deeds and his greeting every Sunday for over 40 years to the congregation, "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life."

(14)  Reverend Tilly died on July 13, 2020, in Philadelphia.

(b)  Designation.--The bridge, identified as Bridge Key 8659, carrying State Route 3037, also known as William Penn Avenue, over the Norfolk Southern and Lehigh Valley Rail Management rail lines in the City of Johnstown, Cambria County, is designated the Reverend Andrew William Tilly, Jr., Bridge.

(c)  Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and maintain appropriate signs displaying the name of the bridge to traffic in both directions on the bridge.

Section 2.  Effective date.

This act shall take effect in 60 days.