The funeral for Homicide Detective, and SAR member Joel Whalenmaier was on Wednesday, 3 February 2010. Services began at 1000 am at the People's Church at Cedar/Herndon, in the city of Fresno.
Sheriff Margaret Mims and several Deputies spoke on their personal and professional relations with Deputy Whalenmaier. Deputy Chris Curtice, composed and sang a song in remembrance of Deputy Whalenmaier. Deputy Curtice had also served as a Homicide Detective, and he was assigned as one of the investigators in the well publicized triple murder of the Ewell Family in the unincorporated area known as "Sunnyside," located on the east side of the city of Fresno.
The procession went E/B on Herndon to the Clovis cemetary located at Villa/Herndon, in the City of Clovis. Hundreds of police officers from 40 California Counties led the procession with their code three lights on. Despite the weather, hundreds of people lined Herndon Avenue to watch the procession. Deputy Whalenmaier had been a fireman prior to joining the Sheriff's Department, and the Fresno Fire Department erected a spectacularly large American Flag over the procession route.
At the funeral, white doves were released, a bagpipe player played "Amazing Grace," a formation of helicopters flew overhead in a missing man formation, and there was a 21 gun salute. And appropriately, the rain held off until the end of the ceremony. Tears from heaven for a fallen earth angel.
This incident captured the sympathy of the community, and a heart grabbing "final log off" was broadcast over the air by a Sheriff's Department dispatcher who said:
"End of watch, February 25, 2010. 2 David 14 has been preempted for new assignment. Search and rescue from heaven. Rest in peace Wally."
A memorial service for Reedley Police Officer Javier Bejar will be held on Monday, February 8 at 1000 am at the Fresno Convention Center. Following the service, he will be buried in Reedley. Officer Bejar was the first Reedley Police officer killed in the line of duty in the Department's 100 year history.
Officer Bejar had served honorably in the U.S. Marines and did two tours in Iraq. He served equally honorably as a member of the Reedley Police Department.
And yet, Officer Bejar is continuing to serve with honor. He was brain dead, but had been kept on life support for several days so that his organs could be harvested. One of his kidneys went to a retired California Highway Patrolman.
Thank you all for your prayers and kind comments.
And when we cry, this is what God does with tears of those mourning. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8
Thanks for posting this Enterprise.
Did you attend the services? I watched a small part on local tv. This was such a sad day for the people of Fresno.
Thank you for the update. May God hold those men and their families in his heart...
Thank you for posting this. And I love this:
“End of watch, February 25, 2010. 2 David 14 has been preempted for new assignment. Search and rescue from heaven. Rest in peace Wally.”