1998 SESSION
INTRODUCED
3/24/10 19:5
SJ221
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 221
Offered February 10, 1998
On the death of John Paul Monahan III.
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Patrons––Couric, Barry, Bolling, Chichester, Colgan, Edwards, Forbes, Gartlan, Hanger, Hawkins,
Holland, Houck, Howell, Lambert, Lucas, Marsh, Martin, Marye, Maxwell, Miller, K.G., Miller,
Y.B., Mims, Newman, Norment, Potts, Quayle, Reasor, Reynolds, Saslaw, Schrock, Stolle, Stosch,
Ticer, Trumbo, Walker, Wampler, Watkins, Whipple, Williams and Woods
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Consent to introduce
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WHEREAS, John Paul "Jay" Monahan III, a Manhattan attorney and NBC News legal analyst who
was active in Civil War battlefield preservation efforts in Virginia, died on January 24, 1998; and
WHEREAS, a native of New York, Jay Monahan was an honors graduate of Washington and Lee
University, where he played four years of varsity football and lacrosse, and of Georgetown Law School,
where he edited the Georgetown Law Journal; and
WHEREAS, a successful attorney in Washington, D.C. and New York City, Jay Monahan became
well known as a legal analyst for NBC, earning widespread praise for his perceptive and balanced
commentary on some of the more publicized and notorious criminal trials of recent times; and
WHEREAS, the owner of Valhalla, a historic Shenandoah Valley home near the Shenandoah County
community of Maurertown, Jay Monahan pursued his lifelong love of Civil War history and
memorabilia; and
WHEREAS, one of the founders of the Stonewall Jackson Brigade, with headquarters in Woodstock,
Jay Monahan served as president of the Brigade and was an enthusiastic participant in Civil War
re-enactment events in the Shenandoah Valley; and
WHEREAS, Jay Monahan was instrumental in the successful effort to save the Kernstown Battlefield
site near Winchester from being sold at public auction, leading the effort to obtain federal and state
funds to save the historic battlefield where Generals Jackson, Shields, Early, and Cook once led their
troops; and
WHEREAS, at the time of his death, Jay Monahan was in the process of writing a book on the
burning of the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War, for which he had collected an impressive
volume of original source material from the residents of the Valley; and
WHEREAS, a prominent, successful, and widely admired New York attorney, Jay Monahan's
Virginia roots ran deep, from his college days in Lexington to his dedicated and successful efforts to
preserve the history and heritage of the Shenandoah Valley; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly note with
great sadness the untimely passing of a true friend of Virginia, John Paul Monahan III; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for
presentation to the family of John Paul Monahan III as an expression of the deep and abiding respect in
which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the citizens of the
Commonwealth.
INTRODUCED
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