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December 13, 2006

Update: Oldest retired officer, 105, laid to rest / Photo

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Providence Deputy Police Chief Paul Kennedy, left, and Lt. Timothy Lee, along with motorcylce division police, carry the casket of James F. Shea Sr. out of Russell Boyle Funeral Home on Smith Street in Providence today.

PROVIDENCE – A 105-year-old retired city police officer, said to be the oldest retired police officer in the country, often credited his longevity to the years he spent walking the Smith Hill neighborhood as a foot patrolman.

James F. Shea Sr., who died Friday and was buried today, had many opportunities to move over and work from a patrol car. But he always declined, worried he wouldn’t stay as fit, Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy said today.

When Shea’s family called to notify current police officers of Shea’s death, Kennedy said the department asked them what they’d like from the Providence Police Department.

In the end, six Providence officers served as pall bearers, and the motorcycle unit led the procession from the funeral home to the church and, ultimately, to the cemetery. Two officers on horseback joined the procession. Smithfield police attended, and the Adult Correctional Institutions sent an honor guard, Kennedy said.

Kennedy himself volunteered – as did all the officers – to be a pall bearer.

About 100 people attended the funeral – maybe 20 of them police officers, Kennedy said. “It was really a nice tribute, kind of saluting this man’s longevity,” he said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Today, Kennedy said he just wishes he had known Shea was out there before his death. Kennedy’s own father, who also served on the Providence police force, joined the department in 1956 – three years after Shea retired.

“I would have loved to have sat with this man and picked his brain about the police department,” said Kennedy, who learned this week from Shea’s family that the retired officer had a great memory.

“He’s three generations removed now from the officers we’re working with – it’s just remarkable,” Kennedy said.

A patrolman with the Providence Police Department for 28 years, Shea retired in 1953, after serving in the traffic division’s precinct foot patrol, in the Smith Hill neighborhood, and with the department’s Flying Squad during Prohibition.

Two years ago, the Providence Police and Firefighters Retirement Association honored Shea and two other, younger men for their service to the fire and police professions.

Today, Kennedy and five others carried him to his final resting place, Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Providence. The other pall bearers were Lt. Timothy Lee, Patrolman Scott Keenan, Patrolman Patrick Mulholland, Patrolman Edmund Malloy and Patrolman Timothy Pickering.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:10 PM | Permalink

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What a great tribute!

Ellie Malloy | December 13, 2006 3:48 PM link

December 13, 2006

Update: Oldest retired officer, 105, laid to rest / Photo

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