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| Honoring SDPD Detective John "JJ" Gener |
Cops'
funerals are just different. They are like that for a variety of
reasons, not the least which is they usually include a marked police car
escort for the motorcade, a bag pipe player and you may even hear a
twenty-one gun salute followed by the sound of a lone bugler playing the
haunting notes of taps, signaling a police officer's life has ended.
But
more than anything, I think what is different is the feeling among most
of the people who are in attendance. Men and women of law enforcement
who gather to pay their final respects, often spent most of their adult
lives protecting strangers in both a tumultuous and dangerous
environment.
In
police work, you frequently have to break the news to family members who
have lost a loved one as a result of natural aging, a vehicle accident
or even sometimes the actions of an evil person.
You
would think these experiences would make attending funerals easier. It
is really has quite the opposite effect. It makes it harder.
I
think it feels harder because you know all too clearly what it means
when a person leaves this beautiful planet. Those moments are often
replayed as you drive from the crime scene or after you have spoken with
the family members.
As
the police radio echoes in the background you try unsuccessfully to
push the little things you remember like the injured glance as the
mother and father try and understand or when a family member simply
yells out, "no" hoping what you are telling them is not true.
The
frequency of those types of events results in making cops appear
tougher on the outside while on the inside it is a different story. So
while in church or standing graveside with so many other warriors of
the street, almost everyone looks so composed, while you know privately
that behind the badges, leather jackets and body armor these same people
who have committed their lives to serving others, sincerely feel the
pain of saying goodbye to one of their own.
I
experienced those feelings again Last Friday afternoon when Theresa and
I attended SDPD Detective John "JJ" Gener's funeral at St. Michael's
Catholic Church in Poway. A true legend and well respected hero of the
San Diego Police Department, "JJ" had fought valiantly
but ultimately lost his battle against ALS or "Lou Gehrig's Disease." A
battle unfortunately not a single person has ever won.
It
was difficult not to see "JJ" with his sons, Michael or Bryan and his
wife Mary Ann, but the hardest part for me was witnessing the final
salute. The cold San Diego rain was pounding down as Bryan and Michael
led their father's coffin down the path bordered on both sides by
uniform police officers.
I
knew the motor officers who were standing at attention had been there
quite awhile. They were soaked to the bone as they say, but cops are
just tough like that and despite what some people have been saying
lately, they are and will always be men and women of honor.
When
Mary Ann was finally passed the neatly folded American flag by an SDPD
Honor Guard Officer, I thought of "JJ" and how he would have been proud
to see his family well cared for by his law enforcement family. A
family that was grieving so deeply inside, where the public and others
really could not see...
Ray and Theresa Shay
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