By Greg Jaklewicz
Abilene Reporter-News
ABILENE, Texas — Don Russell Allen’s death — his murder — is making headlines because he was a police officer.
But at Friday’s service in the southside Beltway Park Church’s spacious auditorium, of which more than half of its 2,300 seats were filled, those attending learned the 27-year-old Abilene Police Department officer also was:
Caring.
Respectful.
Not judgmental of others.
Not insistent on having things his way.
Born in the back seat of a car.
Enjoyed getting his mom worked up after that dramatic entrance.
Once wore No. 30 when he played football.
Fearless.
Not one to wake up early.
Liked to have his photo taken with big fish.
And deer.
True to the mantra to work hard, be efficient and do the job right.
The first to crack a joke.
Fond of cotton candy and watermelon.
Not one to let you forget when you goofed up.
An aspiring dad.
Crazy.
Crazy in love.
Allen, who was found dead Monday evening in his home in Clyde, was remembered in many ways that brought laughter, smiles and nods of appreciation.
The service took place just over 12 hours after the APD announced two people had been arrested and charged with murder in the case. The focus Friday, however, was on Allen.
The auditorium was filled with first responders — police, deputies, firefighters, medical personnel. Officers from San Angelo helped usher, while uniform patches showed attendance from Addison, Mansfield, Amarillo, Lubbock, Leander and other distant points in Texas, as well as communities and counties on all sides of Abilene.
Representatives from the city of Abilene and Taylor County, Dyess Air Force Base, the Abilene ISD attended, along with officials from state and federal agencies.
A U.S. flag covered Allen’s casket. Above it was a photograph of him in uniform; at each side were photographs of him and his fiancée. Until the service began, two members of the Police Department’s Honor Guard were posted at the casket.
Police Chief Stan Standridge earlier in the week said the fallen officer would not be alone.
Sprays of flowers extended in both directions. One to the left was from the A-6 nurses at Hendrick Medical Center. One to the right was from the Toronto Police Association. Yes, the one in Ontario, Canada.
Music chosen for the service included the country song “I’ll Die Trying.”
“If I don’t make your life heaven on this earth I’ll die trying, I’ll die trying.”
While Keith Roberson, pastor of Beltway’s north campus, offered spiritual words of encouragement and comfort, he was joined by Standridge and Allen family friend David Reid, associate pastor at Venture Community Church in Graham, in giving both professional and personal accounts of Allen’s life.
There were particularly emotional moments. A collage of photographs brought tears and sobs. Standridge’s story of how, using CPR, Allen and Officer Sterling Riddle saved the life of an Abilene teenager found unresponsive in a street was poignant enough, with Standridge calling it a miracle.
But then, Marley Mercer stood to be recognized and joined the chief in giving to Pamela Allen, the officer’s mother, the department’s lifesaving award. One also goes to Riddle.
Standridge said Allen stepped it up when his goal became a career in law enforcement, turning a sub-2.0 grade-point average to a 4.0 at Cisco College.
The chief also related the story of Allen’s proposal to fiancée Sarha Waters, during which Allen pretended to find a ring on a South Padre beach.
She didn’t go for that — it was almost dark, so how could he find a ring in the sand? — and interrogated her boyfriend.
Using a flashlight — only police, even those off duty, would have one handy, Standridge joked — Allen read the inscription and she gave him an enthusiastic yes. That was in June; they were to be married in July 2016.
“Those memories,” Standridge said, “live on.”
The chief at times had to collect himself while talking about his officer.
“I was so impressed with the chief. He seems to be very supportive of his department,” said Jared Baze, who has worked two years for E.ON Climate & Renewables with Russell Allen, one of the officer’s two brothers. “I also was impressed with the turnout and how respectful it was.”
It was Reid who called his friend from childhood days of playing tackle football “crazy.”
“I saw him for who he was,” Reid said. “He had your back. Don was ... I was blessed.”
As the service ended, Standridge dismissed sworn law enforcement officers to form a double line that began at the auditorium doors and continued outside the church. Allen’s casket was rolled to a hearse, six pallbearers and Reid, all dressed in matching camouflage shirts, walking beside it. Family members followed.
Officers saluted in unison.
That inspiring sight met its match when a long vehicle procession motored out of the Beltway parking lot on its way east to Clyde Cemetery. Wylie Middle School students and others on both sides of FM 707 waved American flags.
Roberson summed up the life of a small-town boy who grew up to be a police officer in a way Don Allen would approve.
“Sounds like Clyde, Texas, to me,” he said.
Copyright 2015 the Abilene Reporter-News