Bloomfield (NJ) Mourn Fellow Officer's Loss

[Ken [NY]]

Bloomfield (NJ) Mourn Fellow Officer's Loss

Bloomfield, NJ - 8/24/2001

Independent Press
By: Walter Elliott

Bloomfield, with support from 20 police departments, mourned Officer
Randy Church over a three-day period ending Friday.
Church began his final nine-mile earthly journey when six Bloomfield
Police officers carried his remains from the OBoyle Funeral Home at
about 9:35 a.m. Friday. As the pallbearers placed Church in the
hearse, Chief of Police John McNiff led 140 other officers in a salute
on Broad Street.
From there, an escort of 14 motorcycles and about 30 police cars
brought Church and his relatives to Saint Cassian Roman Catholic
Church in Upper Montclair. The procession would ultimately carry
Church to his burial site at Glendale Cemetery.
Some of those attending the funeral or paying respects at O Boyles
Aug. 15-16 responded to an emergency call from the Church home at
about 8:52 p.m. Aug. 13. They found Church with a gunshot wound to his
head and immediately attempted a revival.
Lifesaving attempts, despite an airlift to the University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey Hospital in Newark, proved futile: Church,
32, was declared dead by 10 p.m. The six-year officer and Persian Gulf
War veteran is survived by his wife, a 3-year-old son, three sisters
and his father.
Questions about the circumstances leading to Church s death were put
aside those three days in favor of commemorating his life. The pattern
was set with the first viewing on Aug. 15.
Broad Street was restricted to one lane each way between Benson Street
and Waverly Terrace due to the volume of parked vehicles by mourners.
About 30 people, mostly officers in full dress and mourning badges
over their shields, talked quietly amongst themselves on the front
sidewalk and porch.
One found the guestbook one-quarter signed when one entered the
parlor. Another 30 or so mourners, including family members, sat,
stood or waited to pay respects in small groups. Flower arrangements
lined the walls and photo albums of Churchs wedding and better times
with his wife and son were left open on stands.
Between two Bloomfield Police Officers on watch was Churchs remains.
He wore United States Marine Corps full dress blue and his five Gulf
War medals were displayed atop his casket.
On the way out, one would see both familiar and new faces. The
familiar ones were of police officers, public officials, firefighters
and emergency squad members while the new wore different police
department badges. One could also hear sobs from inside the parlor.
Those officers seen commiserating represented Belleville, Irvington,
Newark, Nutley, Orange, South Orange, Essex County, Essex County
Sheriff, Bergen County, Clifton, Cedar Grove, Fort Lee, Long Beach,
Lyndhurst, Montclair, Paterson, Roseland, Wallington, Port Authority
and the State Police-Bloomfield Barracks. Some of the above
departments supplied traffic control during Friday s procession and
some others filed past Churchs casket before a private family funeral
at O Boyles that morning.
At St. Cassians , Pastor John Judge was joined by vicar Robert Brennan
and Eastern Rite minister S.T. Sutton in performing the Mass. Judge,
in his address, referred to the Pieta statue by Michaelangelo that is
set in the Vatican.
The statue depicts Mother Mary receiving her dead son s body, said
Judge. One can see the grief in Mary which many of you now share. And
yet one sees a peace over her and her son Jesus, for His suffering is
over.
The flags at half-staff and mourning bunting which adorn The Law
Enforcement Building for Church may stay on a few days longer than
planned. An announcement that retired officer Thomas Walsh, 45, had
died Sunday was published Tuesday. Walsh was an 18-year member of the
force who retired in 1999.

Ken [NY]
--
Chairperson,
Department of Redundancy Department
____________________________________

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