Don’t take them for granted, son says
Loved ones remembered at Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial
Police and peace officers who lost their lives on the job were honoured Sunday in an annual memorial service held at Confederation Building.
Loved ones, along with uniformed workers including firefighters, police officers, conservation officers, fish and wildlife officers and correctional officers, listened on as the names of fallen uniformed officers were listed.
At the end of the ceremony, family members of Howard Lavers laid a wreath to remember the conservation officer who died on the job in 2013.
His son, Mike Lavers, said they look forward to the annual Police and Peace Officers Memorial every year.
“I don’t have any words for it. It’s absolutely fantastic. Every year it gets a little better, grows a little stronger. More people come out which is really good to see. We started attending this in Ottawa three or four years ago and now we’ve moved back to Newfoundland so we attend it here. It’s fantastic,” he said.
“We plan for this we make sure that we’re available every year, because we look forward to it, and of course seeing all the members and his co-workers and his friends.”
Howard Lavers, from Port Saunders, was 57 years old when his snowmobile went through the ice on Eastern Bluey Pond in February 2013.
The younger Lavers smiled as he described his father as “a man’s man. Stubborn, thickheaded.
“But that’s what made him who he was, and that’s why everyone loved him so much and appreciated him for who he was. He was a great, great man,” he said.
He said between memorials, the family remembers him in the little things, like personality traits they got from him when growing up, and everyday things.
“So many little things — seeing a police car, seeing a uniformed member. It’s just always on the top of our minds. It’s always there,” he said.
Lavers asks people not to take members in uniform, whose work is to protect people, for granted.
“So many people do, and don’t realize what a valuable service that these members in uniform provide for us,” he said.
This year marks the 14th annual Newfoundland and Labrador Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial Day.