I begin this story by telling you that I am a retired police officer with 32 years of service, but remain very active in the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in Chester County, PA. The month of May is National Police Memorial Month, and May 15^th of each year, regardless of the day, is National Police Memorial Day. This was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Since then, police officers all over the country, honor the police officers who have died in the line of duty. The National Memorial is located in Judiciary Square, Washington, DC, and open to the public year around. Please visit www.nleomf.com for more information.

In the past few years, the Valley Forge Region and the LaSalle Appreciation Society has been invited to participate in some special events in the southernmost area of the region, namely, Sussex County, Delaware. The most recent participation was Wednesday, May 7th, 2008. This was Delaware’s annual Police Memorial Service, honoring all the fallen police officers from this state. The service took place at the capital, Dover, Delaware.

The coordinators of this event asked if I could find an “old shiny black sedan” to transport Governor Ruth Ann Minner to this event in Dover. She is completing her second term, and this will be her last year to preside over this event.

My next step was to invite Bud Coleman to participate with his 1940 LaSalle sedan.  He was unable to take time off during the week, and suggested that I take the car and represent the club on that day. I gladly accepted Bud’s offer. What an honor for me and Bud, as well as the club!  This is great public relations for our club.

I left Malvern, PA bright and early on a beautiful May morning, and headed south to Dover. The car performed perfectly. I was met by security, and escorted to the designated area to meet the Governor and her staff. From this point on, the car could not be left without someone in authority guarding it. It was the Governor’s Security Detail of Delaware State Police running things from this point on. There was also a police K-9 unit on hand to make sure there were no explosive devices on any of the vehicles in the procession. The LaSalle would lead the procession.

After all that was done and cleared, it was “hurry up and wait” for things to start. That was not a problem for me, because countless people and police officers could not get enough of looking at the car and taking pictures. I was happy to answer all the questions thrown at me about the car. Governor’s license plates number 1 were placed on the front and rear of the car, along with a magnetic state seal and flags.

Shortly before the Governor arrived, the Superintendent of Delaware State Police arrived. Colonel Thomas McLeish was very impressed with the car, and would be the Governor’s body guard for the day.

Governor Minner arrived in her specially equipped Cadillac Sedan Deville, driven by her assigned body guard, a DSP Trooper. She was escorted to the LaSalle by troopers. There was a smile on her face that could brighten anyone’s day.  No one told her that we were surprising her with this special car, for a very special day. She stated, “I’ll never forget this one!”.  It was go slow so everybody could see her in this car.  She made it a point to sign the official program for Bud to have with his other memorabilia.