Carley, Walter A.

Walter A. Carley was born circa 1900 and grew up in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. He completed his childhood schooling and confirmation at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church and School on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint in June, 1907. Carley then attended St. John's College, now St. John's University, in Brooklyn from 1907-1909. He served in World War I as a Navy seaman and storekeeper at St. Julian's Creek in Portsmouth, VA from 1918-1919. An honorable discharge followed in 1921.

As an active member of the Knights of Columbus (K of C), Lexington Council, No. 293, based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Carley served as the chair of multiple publicity and advertising committees. He was also an active member of the Greenpoint Peoples Regular Democratic Organization (GPRDO). This political organization fostered Regular Democratic values and promoted the Regular Democratic agenda throughout Brooklyn. The Regular Democrats tended to be conservative in apposition to Reform Democrats who espoused to be against the democratic "machine" of city, state and local government. Carley is cited on the website, The Political Graveyard, as a Brooklyn Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940, 1944, and 1948. It is unclear if politics served as Carley's sole profession. Also included in the collection are personal records of Carley's father, Edward Carley, relating to his plumbing business in Brooklyn and the confirmation certificate from St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church for Emily Carley, his sister.

Walter A. Carley died in 1956. His funeral was held at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

From the guide to the Walter A. Carley collection, 1905-1956, (Brooklyn Historical Society)