Friday, March 28, 2003
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Friday, March 28, 2003 |
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Tyrone police chief laid to rest Spencer remembered for love of town and job, sense of humor By JOHN MUNFORD
Tyrone Police Chief Roger Spencer was remembered at his funeral Wednesday as a compassionate policeman who cared about Tyrone and was prone to pull pranks on co-workers, friends and family. Spencer, who died unexpectedly Monday, was laid to rest after a lengthy police motorcade, a 21-gun salute and an aerial tribute from police helicopters flying in the "missing man" formation. Representatives from each of Fayette County's public safety agencies were in attendance as well as others from area agencies. Speakers at the funeral often referred to Spencer's jovial pranks, which sometimes involved disguising his voice on the phone. Once, Spencer tricked his brother Scott into believing he was an IRS agent who wanted Scott to come to the agency's office for an audit. "It took a lot to get back at him, but when you did, you really got him good," Scott Spencer said. Scott Spencer challenged everyone in attendance to do something special to remember his brother. "I'd like for all of you to go out and do something ornery, have a good laugh about it and then look up to the sky and say, 'Hey Roger, that was for you,'" Spencer said. Chief Spencer was also known for routinely "dressing up" his officers for Tyrone's annual Founders Day festivities. Sometimes, the officers would turn up in women's dresses, complete with makeup and the whole nine yards. One year, he got them dressed up as the 1970s music group The Village People. City employees got even for his routine pranks one year by painting his office pink, recalled Tyrone Mayor Sheryl Lee. She noted that under Spencer's leadership, the police department became one of the smallest in Georgia to earn state accreditation. Spencer's son Toby said his father dearly loved his job and the town of Tyrone. After Spencer left the hospital this weekend, "the first thing he did was go to Tyrone and pick his patrol car up," Toby Spencer said. Spencer also set a good example for others, noted the Rev. Bill McElwaney, who recalled a story from when he was 14 years old, watching a bully chasing down a smaller child who was running home. The smaller child's father met the youth at the door and said, "If you don't fight him, you're gonna have to fight me," McElwaney said. Spencer, who was off duty at the time, heard the commotion and had a brief talk with the young boy's father, who later went back inside, McElwaney said. But it was what Spencer did next that meant a lot to McElwaney. "He put his arm around the kid and for the first time, the kid relaxed," McElwaney said. "He ministered to the kid who was hurt. ... I was impressed by that. What he did that day, he did because he was Roger and that was his character." During the funeral, deputies from the Fayette County Sheriff's Department covered Tyrone so Spencer's offices could attend the services.
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