Published: February 03, 2009 12:00 am
State police captain given full honors during funeral
By Alan Burke
Staff writer
HAVERHILL — State police Capt. Richard Cashin was remembered yesterday with tears and pride during a funeral Mass at Sacred Hearts Church in Bradford, a section of Haverhill.
It was a ceremony marked by military ritual, with every shade of blue filling the street thanks to the presence of thousands of police in parade formation. Officers came from as far as California and Oregon, standing to attention, or marching in place, or presenting the colors.
But it was a very human affair, too. Cashin's tearful family and friends filed into the church as the sun ducked in and out of the clouds on a mild winter day. Wife Caroline, her face distorted in pain, was supported by two troopers as she climbed the granite steps. When the doors opened and her husband's casket came into view, she seemed to falter, shoulders collapsing for a moment before she recovered and continued inside.
Cashin, 52, a Boxford resident, was killed in the line of duty on Wednesday when his cruiser hit a utility pole on Route 1 north. At the time, he was involved in an effort to aid Saugus police in catching an erratic driver, according to that town's Police Department. The accident is still under investigation.
The funeral service was broadcast via loudspeaker to South Main Street. Cashin's oldest son, Thomas, 13, his voice breaking with emotion, spoke to the congregation, recalling his father's encouragement in getting his grades up.
It was one of the last things they'd discussed, said the youth, his father expressing pride when the grades began to rise.
"I'll always remember my dad as a great cop and No. 1 dad," Thomas said.
Brother-in-law Chuck Durfee had to stop and collect himself several times as he spoke, summing up messages from nearly every member of the family. Her father was always supportive, said daughter Julie, 24. "When I think of him, I think of him smiling."
"He placed everyone else first," wrote daughter Katie, 25.
"Caroline was his everything," Durfee said. "You could see the love. You could feel the love." He quoted her, "He was my rock."
Durfee continued, "She could never imagine —" He sighed and stopped a moment. "She could never imagine a life without him."
Cashin's parish priest, the Rev. Robert Conole, said, "He passed from life way before his time." He recalled a man of stature — "You couldn't miss him," the priest joshed. "He was 6-4" — and a man legendary as a coach of youth sports in Boxford. "He was a great husband, a great father ... a great state police captain and a great guy."
Conole stressed the role that faith played in Cashin's life.
"Rich had a zeal and passion," he said. "He loved life."
The public ceremony ended in front of the church rather than at the grave. Two Air Force sergeants ritually removed and folded the U.S. flag draped around the Air Force veteran's casket.
Spectators lingered on the church steps or kept to the sidewalks, enclosed by banks of melting snow. A platoon of clergy in white vestments looked on as the flag was presented to a seated Caroline Cashin. A trooper put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Family members also reached out to embrace and support her.
The Massachusetts State Police Pipes and Drums played "Amazing Grace." A salute was fired by an honor guard of troopers. A state police helicopter flew swiftly past, above the heads of the all the police officers, down the center of South Main Street.
Next, troopers presented a state police cap to each of the Cashin children. Then, a rose to each, which they, one by one, placed on the coffin. Standing beside his father's casket, Matthew, 9, the youngest son, offered a salute.
Breaking a profound silence, a call now came on a police radio, the sound carrying up and down the street in what seemed for a moment an awkward glitch in an otherwise smoothly run ceremony.
"Station 8," said the voice, "to cruiser 2392, Captain Cashin?"
Then, it came again, "Station 8 to cruiser 2392, Captain Cashin?" And finally, more insistently, "Station 8 to cruiser 2392, Captain Cashin?" And at last, when no answer was made, the voice was no longer insisting, but accepting, offering quietly, "Go in peace."
Placed in the hearse, Cashin was driven away as the church bells rang.
In addition to the busloads of police, including FBI and other state and federal agents, officials attending the funeral included Attorney General Martha Coakley; Lt. Gov. Tim Murray; Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett; Sheriff Frank Cousins; Kevin Burke, secretary of the state Department of Public Safety; and state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.
Gov. Deval Patrick attended the wake on Sunday. He was absent yesterday, at the same hour attending the funeral in Rockland of Army Spc. Matthew Pollini, killed in Iraq.
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