A few hours later, at a similar ceremony, an assemblage of firefighters and paramedics from as far as New York and South Carolina gathered with other mourners at Washington-Centerville Cemetery to say goodbye to another fallen public servant.
Centerville police Officer John Kalaman, 29, and Washington Twp. firefighter Robert O'Toole, 25, died Monday after they were struck by a car while investigating an accident on icy Interstate 675.
The two men didn't live long lives, Centerville Police Chief Stephen Walker observed as he spoke at Kalaman's burial, "yet they will be remembered always for what they did in that short time.
"I hope the families can find some measure of comfort in the honor that's being paid to them."
The community honored the men in a big way. Schools, businesses and major thoroughfares were closed and an estimated 2,000 people attended each of the funerals at the Church of the Incarnation. Many more braved the cold to view a procession of more than 350 police cruisers and a line of about 350 fire vehicles make their way from the church to the cemeteries.
At both Roman Catholic funeral Masses, mourners filled the church and spilled over into a gymnasium at Incarnation School, where people watched the mass on a giant TV screen.
Kalaman and O'Toole were eulogized as heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
"The Lord told us: 'Greater love than this no man has than to lay down his life for others,'" Father Thomas Kuhn, Incarnation's pastor, said during Kalaman's service. "John showed all of us he had that love."
"He put us in his debt," Father Paul Vieson said of O'Toole. "His life was a triumph, and so was his death: giving and assisting someone in pain."
Living up to O'Toole's "graced example," Vieson said, "must be the challenge he leaves us."
The funerals and burials of Kalaman and O'Toole were similar in many respects, but distinguished by rituals unique to each man's profession.
Hundreds of police, deputies and state troopers stood in formation and saluted as Kalaman's casket was taken from the church and placed into a hearse.
The officers got into cruisers parked four lanes deep on Far Hills Avenue and flipped on their flashing lights, creating a sea of red, white and blue flashing lights that rippled gently uphill toward David's Cemetery.
"God, I hope I never have to see that again," a Dayton officer said to a colleague as the cruisers started to move forward.
At David's Cemetery, members of the Hamilton County sheriff's Pipes and Drums unit, dressed in kilts and playing bagpipes, marched ahead of the hearse as it moved to the gravesite.
"Grant that our brother John sleep here in peace until you reawaken him in glory," Kuhn prayed.
Police threw their arms around each other and wept as the gravesite rites ended.
The police procession had barely faded from view outside Incarnation when firefighters began to line up their engines, trucks and cars on Far Hills. It was time for a new tribute, filled with a new group of professional symbols.
Following the mass, two firefighters stood at attention on the back of Washington Twp. Engine No. 51, the first engine O'Toole rode on and the same number as his lot number at the cemetery, according to the cemetery's sexton. Another engine was parked in front, with a large floral arrangement on top.
O'Toole's casket was lifted onto the back of Engine No. 51 . Then firefighters had their own procession, past O'Toole's Station 45 on McEwen Road to Washington-Centerville Cemetery. Firefighters and paramedics from other area towns provided fire protection for the township Friday so O'Toole's colleagues could attend the funeral.
The burial ceremony was similar to Kalaman's. An honor guard from 12 fire departments lined up at the gravesite, and a Careflight helicopter made a pass over the cemetery.
At the cemetery, a bell rang five times, with a final dispatch calling for Robert O'Toole. The answer echoed back that Robert O'Toole had answered his last alarm and is now serving in Heaven.
O'Toole was a township firefighter for four years, but "he could have worked here a week and we still would have felt a loss," said Jan Ruzicka of Centerville, whose son-in-law is a lieutenant at the McEwen fire house. She said the firefighting community very close.
"This is our way of trying to help," said Lt. Mark Johnson, one of four Huber Heights firefighters filling in at the McEwen station. "It's only a small part, but it's our way of showing respect."
Showing respect also was what brought police and firefighters to Centerville from all over Ohio and beyond.
"When something like this happens, it affects all of us," said Officer Deirdre DeLong of the Blue Ash police. "It's a family - a very large extended family."
"It could've easily been one of our guys," said Randy Pavlak, fire chief in Sugarcreek Twp., which borders Washington Twp.'s jurisdiction. "It's been felt very deeply in our department because we work with those stations on a regular basis."
When O'Toole was a child, he lived next door to Pavlak, who was 15 years his senior. Later, when O'Toole took an interest in firefighting, he would ask Pavlak about his experiences.
"It was a great loss in my heart as well as (losing) a brother firefighter, to see such a quality young man killed in the line of duty," Pavlak said.
The accident caused the Arcanum Fire Department to change its procedures at accident scenes, Chief Bud Gray said. "We're blocking the highway off completely if there's an accident. No traffic is coming through there."
Purple ribbons were on display in the south suburbs as the community grieved.
"The frustrating thing is, the community wants to do something and there's nothing we can do," said former Bellbrook police officer Tom Blome. "Everybody's hurting. Little old safe suburbia got a dose of reality - it happens everywhere."
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* Staff writers Katherine Ullmer and Jennifer Inez Ward contributed to this
report.
* CONTACT Lou Grieco at 225-2057 or e-mail him at lou_grieco@coxohio.com. Contact Tom Beyerlein at 225-2264 or e-mail him at tom_beyerlein@coxohio.com
Related
* In Centerville, the rush of daily life comes to a halt for grieving and
reflection. 8A
* Snarled traffic and business closings are taken in stride. 8A
* The day in photos. 9A
| Left: Police officers from Wright State
University and the city of Centerville comfort one another Friday
during services for Centerville Officer John Kalaman at
David's Cemetery. The two were among hundreds of officers
who traveled to Centerville to pay their respects to a collegue
killed in the line of duty. Below: The casket of Washington Twp. firefighter Robert O'Toole is carried from Incarnation Church after Friday's funeral Mass. Bottom: Dayton police officers stand at attention and salute as the casket of Officer John Kalaman is carried into Incarnation Church.
WALLY NELSON / DAYTON DAILY NEWS SKIP PETERSON / DAYTON DAILY NEWS |