SPRINGFIELD — In most years the Police Department’s annual blue light event honors the 17 city officers who died in the line of duty, but this year families of those who were killed also recognized an officer who is very much alive.
Maura Schiavina, Doris Beauregard-Shecrallah and other family members joined together to present Police Superintendent Cheryl C. Clapprood with flowers and a plaque to show their appreciation of her long support for them.
“We will miss you,” said Schiavina, a retired State Police officer herself and the sister of Michael Schiavina, who was shot and killed with his partner Alain Beauregard during a routine traffic stop in 1985.
Clapprood will be retiring in the spring when her contract expires. She promised to return to the ceremony even after she is no longer the police superintendent.
“The Blue Light is so important because it helps us remember the names on the monument so their deaths are not forgotten or taken in vain,” she said. “We will never forget.”
Every year police, politicians, families and others gather to recognize Project Blue Light, a nationwide program that asks people to remember police who have been killed on duty by putting a blue bulb in their outside light or a blue candle in their window. Springfield held its formal program on Thursday in front of the Police Department memorial that honors the 17.
“We ask our communities to display a blue light. In doing this it brings comfort and joy knowing that others actually take the time to remember them and not only them but our firefighters, our EMS workers and all those who serve the public,” Schiavina said.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno thanked the officers who currently work for the department as well as the families of the 17 who were killed and said policing is still an honorable, although difficult, profession.
“We live in an increasingly violent country where unfortunately people settle their differences with guns,” he said.
But Sarno closed on a positive note.
“There is plenty more good in our world and our country and our state and our city of Springfield,” he said.
The following are the 17 men who died on duty and the dates they were killed: Adelbert St. Marie, Aug. 31, 1934; Carl Rolf, Nov. 2, 1938; John P. Sullivan Sr., Feb. 2, 1940; Thomas F. Murphy, Feb. 2, 1940; Raymond Moriarty, Sept. 2, 1946; John W. Connors, Feb. 20, 1953; Leo Hamel, Oct. 31, 1955; Francis W. Sears, Sept. 11, 1967; Walter C. Juskiewicz, June 21, 1969; William R. Berte, Jan. 8, 1973; Richard D. Vigneault, April 11, 1973; Paul F. Mawaka, Oct. 30, 1973; Michael Schiavina, Nov. 12, 1985; Alain Beauregard, Nov. 15, 1985 and Kevin Ambrose, June 4, 2012.
