'I just want to fade away': Worcester police give final salute to those lost in last year
WORCESTER — The men remembered at 9-11 Lincoln Square Sunday did a lot of things later in life — hunted tornadoes, carved up wood, carved up dance floors — but first, they were city police officers.
"Like any old soldier, I just want to fade away," John Feeley, a deputy chief who died in July 2023, told the Telegram & Gazette upon his retirement in 1994.
Feeley is one of a dozen Worcester police officers the department made a point to remember, as it does each year, at its Worcester Police Memorial Sunday event.
At half past 9 a.m., with the American flag at half mast and a light mist falling, the department tolled a bell for each of the dozen officers who died within the past year, as well as a former police chaplain.
“While some individuals spend their entire lives wondering if they’ve made a difference in the world, police officers don’t face that uncertainty,” Interim Police Chief Paul B. Saucier told those in attendance.
Among the 12 officers saluted Sunday were at least 10 veterans of the armed forces including Feeley, a U.S. Army veteran and accomplished woodcarver who was lauded by the T&G editorial board for strong leadership upon his retirement, and Joseph Genduso Jr., a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient who gave a searing account of his time in Korea to the T&G in 2018.
Also honored was Sgt. Derrick Leto, the popular department diversity officer and U.S. Marine who died off-duty last March at 42. Members of his family, as well as the families of others who died in the past year, watched as city officials including City Manager Eric D. Batista and Councilor-At-Large Kathleen Toomey offered remarks.
“All these officers that went before us — think how many lives they touched,” Chief Saucier remarked after the ceremony, thanking them and their families for the sacrifices they made.
A review of T&G archives and their obituaries shows many of those honored served for more than three decades including Leo M. Tivnan, who, family wrote saved the life of a choking 2-year-old in August of 1980.
Tivnan, who died in March 2023 at 81, was a Navy veteran who, family said, was “instrumental in negotiating a work schedule” that improved policing and officers' lives while head of the patrolman’s union.
A longtime detective, Tivnan appeared on the TV program “America’s Most Wanted” in 1996 as part of a lengthy search for the killer of a 2-year-old child, Keila Morales, who was murdered in 1993.
“The case has never left my desk,” Tivnan told the T&G in 1997 in a story in which, the paper noted, the detective had sought the suspect in numerous cities including Buffalo and New York City.
“She’s a beautiful little girl,” Tivnan said at the time, noting he kept in touch with her mother.
Authorities eventually tracked the man — who shot the child during a dispute with a man over drugs — to the Dominican Republic. He was extradited back to Worcester and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2001.
“Detective gratified as manhunt ends,” read the headline of a T&G story that quoted Tivnan in 2000.
Also honored Sunday was Genduso, a prolific volunteer for local military causes who was a founding member of the Worcester Korean War memorial and helped donate a Purple Heart monument in Auburn.
Genduso gave up a promising potential career in baseball — he told the T&G In 2018 he signed with the Boston Braves before enlisting in the Marines — and found himself, at 22, fighting for his life in Korea.
The machine gun squad leader recalled being targeted with sniper shots during a brutal battle in which many of his fellow soldiers were killed.
Genduso said the mental scars of war lasted his lifetime, saying in 2018 that he relived scenes from Korea every day of his life.
When he returned, Genduso, who grew up in Worcester, joined the police, serving for more than 30 years.
“I miss my job and miss the men,” Genduso recalled in 2018. Genduso co-founded Worcester Police Softball to benefit the Jimmy Fund — helping raise nearly $500,000 over four decades — and served as commissioner for Worcester County American Legion Baseball.
He threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game at age 89 in 2018 and died on his 95th birthday — Nov. 26, 2023. He received the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service, his family said in his obituary.
Also recognized Sunday were: Lt. William Kett Jr. (a former Army reservist who, family noted in his obituary, sunk a hole-in-one at the 13th hole of Tara Golf & Country Club in Bradenton, Florida, in 2022); Lt. Francis Marley (U.S. Army veteran and retired Internal Affairs investigator who chased down 13 tornadoes following his retirement); Lt. Paul Ohman; police officer Richard Brunette (Navy veteran known for his humor and “dancing prowess,” family said, upon his Florida retirement); police officer William Cantwell (Navy Korean War veteran); and police officers Charles Miller, Matthew Tuccio and Raymond Turgeon.
Police also recognized former longtime department chaplain Deacon Gerald Montiverdi Sr., who died in April 2023 at 84.
Montiverdi, who also served as chaplain at UMass Memorial for 33 years, offering prayers in the pediatric department, was awarded a citation for his work ministering to police in 2011.
Family wrote in Montiverdi’s obituary that one of his greatest honors as police chaplain was reading “The Policeman’s Prayer” at the Worcester Police Memorial Sunday service.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester police give final salute to those lost in last year
