John A. Ayello was born on January 27th 1947 to Ralph and
Mary (Caruso) Ayello. He has three sisters: Rosemary (Ayello) Spiess, Barbara
(Ayello) Potts & Nancy (Ayello) Liechlitner. He attended St. Stevens
Elementary and graduated at Pottsville Area High School in Pottsville, PA. Soon
after graduating John joined the Navy and served his country from October 1964
until June 1968.
After returning from Vietnam,
John had various positions as a cook in Schuylkill County. He owned his own
restaurant and pizzeria for a short time. He also worked as a Security Guard at
Boscov's and Good Samaritan Hospital in Pottsville.
John was married to Beryl on
July 6th 1968. They later had three children: Michele born December
28th 1969, John II born May 17th 1971 and Ralph born
December 27th 1976.
While working as a Security
Guard, he was fully trained as a K-9 Handler with a Doberman named Kane. When
the security company went out of business, John was able to keep the dog. He
later started breeding Dobermans. On one occasion when he took the Doberman to
be bred, he saw a litter of Rottweiler puppies and fell in love with them. He
brought one home with him and named her Heidi. Unfortunately Heidi could not be
bred so he found another Rottweiler pup and named her Ginger.
Through some friends John met
Heity Moyer of Lewistown, PA. She trained him in tracking and through her met
other trainers that worked with him in other aspects of K-9 training.
Moonraker, a Bloodhound was the
first dog on the Hamburg Police Department. In early 1980 Moonraker and John
tracked a suspect 32 miles and found him in a wooded area.
Ginger (pictured below) joined
the Hamburg Police Department later in 1980. In 1985, John and a few others
from the Hamburg Area founded the Blow Barrick Shutzhund Club that was later
dissolved.
The "K-9 Association"
was first affiliated with the Police K-9 Association of America founded by Owen
Tober of Akron, NY, who he met at a K-9 Seminar in Hornell, NY. In 1986 Owen
asked John if he would initiate a Pennsylvania Chapter of the Police K-9
Association of America. The first official meeting of the PPCA was on May 8th
1986.
Many Police K-9 Seminars were
held in the Hamburg area during the next few years with Judges from various
locations including New York and Canada. As many as 75 working K-9 Teams from
all over the east coast attended these week-long Seminars held at the YWCA (now
Camp Olivet) in Hamburg, PA.
In 1986 John Ayello, Scott
& Sheryl Delewski of Hamburg founded the "Hooked on Fishing, Not On
Drugs Club" for children in the Hamburg Area. Scott & Sheryl had lost
their daughter to a drug overdose that inspired the new Organization. This group
went on many fishing trips that ranged from local fishing events to trips to
Canada in Quebec Province near Fort Colounge.
John and a friend named George
had gone to Canada looking for a place to hunt bear. He stopped at a small ski
chalet in Fort Colounge, Quebec and the owner Opey told them where they should
go to hunt bear and that they could pitch his tent down by the lake (pictured
below).
John was not into fishing at
this time, but he went for many hunting trips with people from Berks County.
John became good friends with Opey's son Larry and his wife Rita at the Ski
Lodge.
John also met a man in Fort Colounge named Roland "Gus" Denault. He owns the local store and restaurant. Gus took John on moose and bear hunting trips.
Fishing soon became one of
John's favorite activities. He would go to the lake pictured above (or
a nearby lake) every other week from May to September. He kept his camper at
the ski lodge that Larry and Rita now owned. John would fish all day and head
back to the camper and cook a great meal for all the people that were there
with him including Larry and Rita. Some weeks he would take some of the kids from
the fishing club. Other weeks he would take adults from the Berks and
Schuylkill County area. Most of the people that went fishing with John enjoyed
their trip as long as they were willing to fish the majority of the day. The
purpose of the trip was to fish-that's what he loved to do.
Roscoe was John's second
Rottweiler on the Hamburg Police Force that he purchased in Canada. Roscoe love
to work and really enjoyed participating in many of the demos. Roscoe would
always take advantage of demos - he preferred not to "out" on
command. John did many demos through the years, but when he was wearing his
work collar, he was "on patrol". He lived in the house with John and
his family. He was the family pet and the working police dog.
John held training classes for many
years on Wednesdays and Saturdays with Chris Hartz all year round. Chris Hartz
served as John's head trainer for many years, and was one of John's closest
friends. As many as 30 would attend these classes for various reasons ranging
from the disobedient home pet to the working Police K-9. These classes were
held at the Hamburg Field House, the Hamburg Armory, the Hamburg YWCA and the
Hamburg Boro Hall.
In June 1997 the PPCA ended
it's affiliation with the Police K-9 Association of America and became affiliated
with The Eastern Police Canine Association.
As Roscoe became older John
started training Romeo as his next working Police K-9. K-9 Romeo is Roscoe's
son. Romeo was John's working Police K-9 at the time of his passing. Romeo also
lived as the family pet when he was off duty. Romeo attended the church
services for John's death at St. Mary's Parish Hall in Hamburg.
Officer John Ayello died when
he suffered a heart attack while making an arrest in the Borough of Hamburg on
September 8th 2000. Officer Ayello and another officer had responded
to a domestic disturbance call involving a suspect with active warrants. As the
suspect was being handcuffed Officer Ayello suffered a heart attack. He was
flown to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. This picture below was
taken on July 30th 2000 just 5 weeks before his death.
Hundreds of Police Officers
attended the services for John.
John's name is listed on The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in
Washington D.C.
Each September a party called
"Friends of John Ayello Memorial Dinner" is held in John's memory.
John's final resting place is
in his favorite fishing lake in Canada.
John A. Ayello will never be
forgotten! His life touched the lives of thousands of people in this world.
End of Watch September 8th
2000
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Memorial to be dedicated on
August 11, 2007 at the Hamburg, PA Borough Hall at 11:00 AM