True community support

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Yesterday one of our local police officers passed away. They have no idea why but he ended up having a heart attack....(I am going to try and find the news paper link)....

http://kvnews.com/articles/2008/08/1...e496494031.txt

Today around 2 in the afternoon the police officers from here went down to Yakima to escort him home. I went down as a request from my mother who was going with the local fire chief who asked if she would ride with them since my dad was not available. My dad is the commander of the local VFW and would have been there had he not had other commitments. So I went down and the ladder truck was there with the ladder extended over the road with a flag and there was about 10 different either fire trucks and ambulances there with all the personnel. Add in about 15 or so friends and family and other people who knew the family were there. It was an impressive turn out and showed how our little town pulls together. As I drove home and went by where the funeral home is there were more people down there with signs of support and Boy Scouts in uniform. I was in tears at the site of all the community support and I am proud to be living here and raising my kids here.

I just had to share this with everyone because Mark is gone and I can't talk with him and the kids don't understand why it was a big deal. Thanks for listening to me carry on for a few minutes.

[DUD]

Melissa

I understand Your feelings, as I have felt them before as I grew up in a small

community. Bill

[Ed62]

It doesn't get much better than that, Melissa. Good for you.

Ed

[JeffW]

Melissa,

May God bless you, your family and community. Hearing what happened and response causes me to remember what the job is really all about. In large cities, we usually don't get this kind of response. Reminds me of the town I grew up in.


Jeff

[LinuxRandal]

We see that with fire and police in larger towns. Smaller towns however I really had little experience with.

When my great aunt died, she was buried next to her brothers in a small town. (center of town maybe 6 buildings, brothers died, one IN WWII, the other, a few years after). Family had only been to town to visit the graves on Memorial day since they moved out around 1960. 40 years later when we had her funeral then, a large chunk of the town showed up.

Just a totally different world from what I know.

[cabinetman]

Small towns are very family like. When I moved here it was a small town and there were ceremonies like that. I must say, even though this area has really grown to be a very populated city, there are still ceremonies, and the old timers still show up.

I'm also very moved with ceremonial traditions. I unfortunately saw enough of them while in the Army. Visit Arlington National Cemetery once, and you'll see what I mean.
.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Update

I thought I would share with you about what took the life of the young officer here in town. Here is the article in our paper today and the funeral services were today and to show our respects the children and I lined the street along with other of our community and watched as he was taken to be laid to rest. I am sure tomorrows paper will have more pictures and info on todays proceedings and I will share those also. The line of police and fire vehicles and the amount of our community that were on the street standing in silence and crying, like some of us still brings tears to my eyes.

http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2008/...f899261808.txt

Also maybe the doctors on this forum can help me a little bit. The gun range that they are talking about is a site where our oldest son was working along with a fellow boy scout who is working on his eagle project. That was the end of July, I believe the 30th. What I am wondering is should I go and have our son tested to be on the safe side or should I not worry about it?