Memorial parade comes to Polson

Three-year-old Paisley Williams stood at the corner of Main Street and Third Avenue May 18 gently rocking her baby doll, Emma back and forth.

Williams and Emma stood next to Michelle Morgan patiently waiting to see papa, otherwise known as grandpa and Polson City Volunteer Firefighter Chad Morgan, cruise down the street in a Polson City Fire truck while he and area first responders participated in the 2016 Law Enforcement Memorial Parade that made its way through the heart of Polson.

A block closer to the parade’s end, Emilia Connally, 3, sat with her father Mathew Connally and waited for the parade to pass by.

Emilia wiggled around on a Main Street metal bench talking about her wonderful life, chatting quickly as she stretched and retracted her tiny legs, twisted her waist and exaggerated her storytelling with her toddler’s arms. While certainly not a good candidate for secret agent, Emilia shared her sing-song story with great zeal as she waited for her mother and brother to return from shopping, and while the parade made its way up Main Street.

A local store employee peeked her head out of her storefront to ask what the commotion was about.

One by one, first responders and law enforcement representatives from across Montana and its various branches of service sounded bits of their sirens and cruised at a slow clip down the street on their way to Linderman Elementary School where they gathered as one unified group to honor their life’s work and remember their fallen comrades.  

“Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free

I’m following the path God has laid out you see.

I took His hand when I heard His call.

I turned my back and left it all,” reads part of a poem that highlights the feelings that Montana law enforcement officers breathe each time an emergency call is dispatched to their waiting ears. 

Few know that commitment to mankind the the Linderman Montana Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony.

That commitment to service cost Couture dearly, and was one of the Linderman Montana Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony.

That commitment to service cost Couture dearly, and was one of the major factors that inspired him to seek a law enforcement career. Alec Couture, the Chief’s grandfather, was killed in the line of duty after an assault by a teenager.

On Feb. 24, 1963 Alec Couture, 58, was dispatched to the report of two teenage boys driving a stolen car, according to a recounting of the story in a vintage Flathead Beacon and a current Officers Down Memorial web page.

A 17 and 19-year-old boy, both of whom admitted to heavy alcohol consumption, stopped to fill the tire of their allegedly stolen car with air when Alec Couture confronted them, the sources said.

The 17-year-old boy and Alec Couture engaged in an altercation that ended with Alec Couture on the ground suffering from a head injury that would kill him while in transit to the hospital.

His grandfather’s death was life-changing to Couture, who decided when he was a small child that he would be a law enforcement officer.

Couture said his decision to enter the United States Marine Corp was driven by his grandfather’s service and sacrifice to the community as well.

“Today I am serving where he served,” Couture said. 

Sharing the emotional story of his grandfather’s service was still a challenge to Couture when he spoke to the crowd of fellow officers, school children and community members who attended the memorial service. Though the story of his beloved grandfather has an important message to share, it is also emotionally taxing to Couture and something he’s done only a few times. 

Couture said that he hopes people in the community realize that when a law enforcement officer goes to work, there is no guarantee that officer will return home.

“Sometimes it’s tough,” he said.

Couture said that the memorial service made him feel sadness and joy.

“When you think about all the officers each year and that they die in the line of duty, you realize how serious it is,” Couture said.

A law enforcement officer can be called home at any time, he said. 

“But through the memory and the law enforcement memorial, those officers are talked about, and their families are there to remember. They are almost immortalized in their memory,” Couture said. 

Polson Police Chief Wade Nash felt compelled to show his compassion to the families of fallen officers at the event. So he found some fresh roses and gave them to family members of fallen officers.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox also spoke to the crowd and delivered a stirring and inspiring speech, Don Bell, Lake County Sheriff said.

The event, organized by Polson Police Captain Alan Booth and Polson Police Clerk Joan Hart was a once-in-a-long time event for the area.

The Law Enforcement Memorial and Appreciation parade is part of National Police Week held this year from May 11 to 17, according to the Concerns of Police Survivors, or C.O.P.S. website.

Locally, law enforcement officers began their celebration May 8 and highlighted their week with the Law Enforcement Torch Run held May 12 and 13.

Montana Concerns of Police Survivors host its memorial parades, appreciation and memorial ceremony at different cities each year. Nash agreed to host the parade and ceremony in Polson two years ago. This was the first year, the annual parade toured Polson and the event will not likely return to the area for a long time, he said.

Nash wanted to honor his comrades as well as explain to school children the commitment and sacrifice it takes to be a law enforcement officer.

“Everyone wants to be a cop but they don’t know what a sacrifice it is,” he said. 

Several classes in the Polson School District attended the event, he said.

The ceremony began with a multi-agency law enforcement parade that started at Walmart on Highway 93, wound through downtown Main Street in Polson and ended at Linderman Elementary School.

Officers from Whitefish, Browning, Kalispell, Missoula, Blackfeet, Lewis and Clark, Hamilton, Helena, Butte-Silver Bow, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other out-of-area locations joined in the parade and ceremony as a sign of law enforcement solidarity.

Lake County agencies included Polson Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Department, Ronan Police Department, CSKT Tribal Law and Order as well as Polson Fire Department.

Nash and Couture said they both attended and represented their departments when the event was held in other areas.