Buffalo News
CLARENCE, N.Y. — Gov. David A. Paterson today joined the “long gray line” of more than 500 state police officers and hundreds of other officers from around the country in saying their final goodbyes to Trooper Jill E. Mattice.
A crowd of about 1,500, dominated by the huge police presence, sat through an almost two-hour “worship service” inside Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church in Clarence.
About 10 people, ranging from Paterson to Mattice’s childhood friend who made snow angels with her as a little girl, shared stories and tributes about Mattice.
The former Jill Farrar, a 31-year-old Cheektowaga native, became the first female state police officer to die in the line of duty when she was killed in a traffic accident last Wednesday.
Paterson paid tribute to the “long gray line,” which he said has distinguished itself since 1917.
“What makes them extraordinary, for every waking hour, they are willing to put themselves in peril to protect the citizens of this state,” the governor said.
Sometimes, he added, state troopers suffer the same fate that befalls other citizens, such as being killed in a traffic accident. How Mattice died, Paterson suggested, doesn’t take away from her status as a hero.
“We have to remember that she is one of those heroes, that she was willing to face a different kind of end, if [someone] needed her help,” he said.
Speakers at the worship service painted a portrait of Mattice as an athlete who played sports with ease and a sense of fairness; as a courageous trooper; as a woman who could be tough as nails or gentle as a lamb in her job; as a practical joker and a young woman who knew how to have a good time; as a woman with a big smile and infectious personality; and as a loving family and church member.
“Jill was an individual whom we all loved dearly,” Maj. Kevin Molinari, the Troop C commander, said of Mattice before today’s funeral. “She treated everyone she came into contact with with dignity, kindness, compassion and respect.”
As mourners entered the Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church late this morning, they walked through an honor guard formation, in between two lines of 40 troopers each. Outside were all the trappings of a hero’s funeral, with flashing police lights, firetruck ladders raised in a “V” formation, the State Police Pipes and Drums Unit and lines of police officers from as far away as California, Texas and Florida.
Mattice, 31, was killed when her police cruiser collided with a tractor-trailer in Otsego County. The accident occurred as she was returning to the barracks of the state police at Oneonta from her assignment as a school resource officer.
Mattice was an accomplished athlete who played volleyball, basketball and softball at Cleveland Hill High School, where she graduated in 1996. Four years later, she graduated from Brockport State College.
Mattice became a trooper in 2003, completing her field training in the Clarence barracks.
Near the end of the lengthy service, Pastor Bea Radakovich, from Mattice’s Buffalo Covenant Church, summed up the gist of the portrait painted in the huge sanctuary:
“From everything we’ve heard [today], Heaven is a lot more fun and a lot better looking now that she’s there.”
Copyright 2010 Buffalo News