By Chris Camire
TYNGSBORO, Mass. — Their lives were cut tragically short, but tomorrow afternoon, the legacies of three Tyngsboro police officers will be commemorated in stone, as true as the accomplishments they left behind.
Joseph Pelletier was a chief killed in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1926.
Detective Sgt. Gregory Kasabian lost his battle with cancer in 2001.
And just more than a year ago, K9 Officer John “Jack” Georges died after collapsing unexpectedly on the job.
The names of all three are engraved in a black monument to be displayed outside the town’s police station on Westford Road.
The families of Kasabian and Georges, who will be on hand tomorrow along with local and state officials, say they are humbled by the gesture.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Deborah Kasabian, who was married to Gregory. “It’s an honor for my kids to see what happens when you’re a good guy.”
The Kasabians’ oldest son, Brent, 21, will speak at tomorrow’s ceremony. Their three other sons -- Evan, 18, Kyle, 15, and Jarret, 7 -- also will attend.
“The Police Department has been so supportive,” said Kasabian. “They truly are a brotherhood. They take care of each other.”
Kathleen Georges is equally touched that the department is memorializing her husband.
“He was such a big part of that department for so many years,” she said. “It’s great to keep his name out there. He was loved by so many people. It’s an honor to recognize our loved ones who are no longer with us.”
Pelletier lost his life on June 10, 1926. He was driving his motorcycle down Pine Ridge Avenue toward Lakeview Avenue. Without warning, an automobile driven by a Bedford man crashed into him head-on.
Pelletier was knocked from his seat and unconscious. He was rushed to Lowell General Hospital, where he died just an hour later.
One day after his death, Alexander Duncan, the town’s deputy chief at the time, was quoted in The Sun calling Pelletier a good man and a good officer.
Kasabian, a member of the Police Department since 1989, lost his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on July 23, 2001.
Just 44 at the time of his death, he served with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and was selected to be inducted into the National Association of Police Organizations.
He gained attention for a February 2000 incident when he stopped a Hudson man from jumping off the Tyngsboro Bridge. Kasabian talked to the man, clinging to the bridge, for 30 minutes, telling him he had cancer and wasn’t giving up, so neither should he.
Georges, who was 48 when he died on May 8, 2007, made an impression on hundreds of lives in Tyngsboro during his 22 years with the Police Department.
He was the person who could be counted on to come through for his fellow officers during contract negotiations or when cooking the annual corned beef dinner at the Tyngsboro Sportsman’s Club, friends and family members say.
Besides his wife, he is survived by twins Peter and Jennifer, 15, and daughter Nicole, 10.
“It’s really nice for the department and the town of Tyngsboro to recognize these officers,” Deputy Police Chief Richard Burrows said Friday.
The memorial was donated by Top Line Granite in Tyngsboro. It features the town’s police badge and is inscribed: “It is not how these officer died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
Copyright 2008 The Lowell Sun