N.C. Department of Correction--Correction News--July 1998

Memorial service held to remember officers

FAYETTEVILLE — The mournful notes of a bagpipe filled the hall where the state Probation and Parole Association closed its annual meeting June 12 with a service to remember law enforcement officers who died.

"We are meeting here to pay tribute to the lives of our departed co-workers and to express our love and appreciation for them," said Peggy Biggers, an organizer of the service. "The comfort of having a friend and colleague may indeed be lost, but the comfort of having had that friend is never lost."

As Director Robert Guy read the names of deceased employees and retirees, a representative from their judicial division lit a candle and placed a rose at an altar in their honor.

The service honored Probation and Parole Officer Phyllis Mason, Intensive Officer Virgil Randy Hudson, Probation and Parole Officer Robert Preddy, Office Assistant Brenda Brown, Retiree James Creech, Probation and Parole Officer Bob Stamey, Retiree John DeMarcus, Retiree Mae McClure and Probation and Parole Officer Joe Noyes.

During the service, State Trooper Edward Lowry and Cumberland County Sheriff's Cpl. David Hathcock were also remembered. u