911:: Memorial Photos and Story

[Guest guest]

This is long, so bear with me........

Ok, what a great idea the WEBSHOTS thing is, and the timing couldn't be better.

I'll tell you why.

I went to high school with a guy named Andy. We became best friends through

high school and later through neighboring fire departments, so on and so forth.

When Andy was in his early teens he was diagnosed with bone cancer, but went

through treatment and returned to a normal active teenage life within a couple

of

years. Because the bones in his leg were weak and brittle, he had a series of

rods and screws and whatnot in his leg, so the only evidence of the ordeal was a

slight limp. The blessing bestowed upon him as a result of the cancer was

Andy's

attitude and outlook on life. Nothing could bring him down. He loved everyone,

and it showed. He could make friends with anyone who made contact with him. He

was a true friend.

In 1990, the cancer returned. This time it was not so easy to treat, his leg

had to be amputated just below the hip. Do you think it slowed him down? Not an

ice cubes chance in hell! He remained active with the fire company, as a

chauffeur of the company's automatic transmission pumper. He had a prosthesis

made for him, but he refused to wear it. He said it was fake, it wasn't him. He

stuck with his " pom pom's (crutches). He was an amputee, and that's that! The

only new obstacle was, what would he do for a living? Not that there was much

that could keep him down, but the fact remained, there were just some things he

could not accommodate.

Back in early 1992, when we were still just a fire and ems dispatch center

with 2 people per shift, we were told that 9-1-1 was on it's way to Salem

County.

Staff would be doubled and the hiring process would begin really soon. Andy

called me one day and asked if I thought he could do the job? COULD HE DO IT

??!! Hell, I thought the job was made for him! I got the application that day,

and we filled it out together. Andy was one of the first eight hired to do 9-1-1

calltaking in Salem County. And he was assigned to my shift. I haven't been the

same since! i haven't figured out if that's good or bad yet, hehe)

Andy was the first to notice the faint " click click " of the incoming 9-1-1

calls, as it passed through our switch on its way to the state database, before

returning to our system (with lightening fast speed of course) with the ALI

information. Andy would raise his hand in the air, then pick up the handset on

the first muttering of a ring. It amazed everyone for a very long time until he

decided to let us all in on his little secret. It caused his nick of " Radar "

that

we often heard him called. (among others such as " hip hop " , and " captain magoo " ,

referring to the leg, and his often voluntary bald head with glasses).

I remember one day when they were still in training, one of the other new

hires (still on my shift to this day) was a very pretty girl that Andy liked

very

much. In his attempts to act cool, he would prop his foot up on the console when

talking on the phone. During one phone conversation, with his foot propped up

and

chair on two feet, he rocked back and went ass over head onto his back. Did he

lose a beat? No, his conversation continued as smoothly as ever. All the while

the rest of the comm center (and his female counterpart trainee) cried with

laughter, so much our bellies ached for hours after. You had to love this guy,

his head and heart went into this job AND the people he worked with. (and man he

was a mean cook .. ) I don't remember how it started, but Andy and I would greet

each other every single day by flipping each other the middle finger. Odd, but

because when we entered the alarm room, you weren't sure what was going on and

you didn't want to speak up and interrupt anything. So our silent gesture was

our

way of saying, " hey man, what's up? " In 1997 one of his brothers went turkey

hunting. As a gift to his family, the brother gave all the siblings (8 total,

huge family!) one petrified turkey leg. (go figure), but Andy's was petrified

with its middle finger up and the rest curled under. It was hilarious.

In 1995 we began Police Communications, and Andy was at the front of the

pack. He was eager to please, and excited about the challenges that we faced. He

tackled every problem policy, and made it his personal agenda to ensure that the

naysayer officers who doubted or questioned our ability to service them

adequately were calmed, and reassured that any problems we faced together as a

public safety community could be overcome with open lines of communication

between all involved. Police Comms was definitely his niche in our world.

Everyone in the field knew Andy, from the desk clerks at local HQ's, to the

Chiefs of Police, to municipal government officials, Fire Chiefs, and everyone

in

between.

He loved his cops, and he dubbed our police comms consoles the " Cop Shop " .

And his officers loved him. They knew the night was safe when Andy was on watch

Mid 1998 Andy's cancer returned again. It would be too much this time. It

surrounded his heart. Andy died of cancer in November of that year. 1998. Salem

County citizens, Law Enforcement community, and the Public Safety Community as a

whole lost a dear friend that day. I knew that when I said good-bye to Andy at

his funeral, I had to give him the finger one last time, we always had that

" one-up " competition going on. The night of his viewing, as I approached Andy's

casket, the family surrounded me, and told me that Andy had made a request the

night before he had died, and they handed me a paper bag, about 12 inches long.

I

opened it and pulled out the turkey leg, giving me the finger. He had the

foresight, that the night he knew he was going to die, he told his brother to

give me the turkey leg before I could make it to the casket. He had to get the

last punch. When I finally made it to his casket, I couldn't do it. He got me,

and that was that!

The next day were the services. It was monumental. Cops, firemen, Emt's,

bagpipes, dispatchers, friends, and the largest family I have ever known. As I

stood on the stage, in my Battalion Chief uniform, reading my fireman's eulogy,

choking back the tears and hoping to have the strength to finish a poem, Andy's

eyes opened ..... (not wide open, silly) but just a little bit, it's some

phenomena that is actually quite normal. But I remember hearing his mom gasp,

and

I glanced over discreetly, and sure enough, a sliver of his eyes were visible. I

have no doubt that Andy was there that day. As I rode the fire truck holding

Andy, we smelled an odor of rubber burning, followed by some light gray smoke.

The motor on the reel of booster hose of the pumper was running and burning up!

No doubt a final farewell to his fire company comrades, damn prankster!!

OK OK OK. So let me get to my point. With the prospect of taking on more

police departments, and the increase of noise, and the reducing amount of space

in our alarm room (which housed everything, 9-1-1, fire, ems, police), we knew

an

addition was going to be needed. A local nuclear power company sprung for more

than 80% of the cost, and an addition was added to our building and police

communications was moved into the new facility, which adjoins the existing room.

Unanimously, our current staff asked county government if the new center could

be

named in Andy's memory. There was not a single nay on the vote.

Wednesday, July 12 2000, at 1745 hrs, with an audience of nearly 100, The

McKee Memorial Police Communications Center was dedicated, with

plaque and picture. His badge number, 25-69, (and yes, he begged for that number

when he was hired) will forever adorn the walls. Imagine a room full of macho

police officers crying, it was a sight to behold. I held up pretty good, until

today, as I sit here writing this, recalling many memories, ... I miss him. He

was a great guy.

I followed suit, and placed a number of pictures from the ceremony, and some

other oddities on the WEBSHOTS webpage which I will add the link below.

UNFORTUNATELY, all pictures I have of Andy in my computer are in PSD format, or

are too large of a file. I couldn't get any one there.

If you have read this far, I want to say thanks for listening to me talk

about my friend, and I love all of you for what you are to the community, and

what you are to me on this list, a release.

The captions under the pictures, and the title of the pictures should be

descriptive enough for you to understand what you are looking at. If you want to

ask what something is, feel free to ask. And if any of you are ever in the

Philadelphia, South Jersey, Delaware area, drop me a line, I will give you the

10

cent tour!

Here is the link:

http://community.webshots.com/album/2970233snBfNZUpSB

Thanks All,......

J. Fred Ayars

Senior PST

Salem County NJ