TOWN MOURNS
Friends, family mourn the loss of Hamilton police officer
The sad, tragic facts surrounding the death of Hamilton Police Officer Tom White were made public Tuesday afternoon.
But I don’t want to talk about facts; I want to talk about feeling.
And the feeling is this: In my time here at The Trentonian, dating back to 1999, I have never seen an outpouring of grief over a single death like I am currently witnessing. Officer White — who spent his days as a school resource officer (SRO) at Reynolds Middle School — was clearly loved and respected in the township he served, lived, and grew up in.
Facebook — which is about the best barometer of public sentiment ever created — was awash in memories and tributes to Tom White. People were emailing me all night long, sending me messages all night long. I didn’t know the man, but he clearly touched so very many lives. A small, small sampling …
“Everyone loved and respected him,” said Corina Simms, whose son, Lucas, is the student council president at Reynolds. “Recently, students were asked to write a letter about Officer White. My son’s was picked to be read at a HTBE meeting were Officer White received an award for his service to our students. My son said he just saw him today at school and even though he was on the phone he acknowledged my son with a wave. My son said he heard the news, but was hoping they had the wrong person. He broke down in tears. I’m just happy Lucas knew him, respected him, laughed with and learned from him. He will be dearly missed.”
“Whitey’s uncle lived around the corner from me,” wrote Richard Soucey Jr. “He spent a lot of time there when we were kids so we did everything together, fishing, played on the same Nottingham Little League teams, played with fireworks, all the things kids did together. He always had my back. We lost touch when we got older like most childhood friends do. But I work at Lowe’s in Hamilton Marketplace and he’d stop in every once in a while and he’d always give me a little brother hug. I’ll miss my good friend.”
“If ever there was a hometown guy, this is he,” said Kevin Voorhees. “Tom was not always a cop, he was much more. He was just one of the guys ... a guy who didn’t prejudge, had a sense of humor that was infectious, had everyone call his name when he walked in a room.”
The above is just a sense of what was written about White. There were thousands more comments. I’m telling you: My Facebook feed became a tribute page for Tom White. I use Facebook differently than most, as it’s strictly used for the professional side of my life. With over 6,500 people following me, most of them local, my feed is a realtime Mercer County pulse. And on Monday afternoon and evening, it became the place where memories of Hamilton Police Officer Tom White were posted. One after another.
And through it all, through all the sad posts, all the people expressing their grief over their friend, one comment struck me, written by someone who didn’t even know him. “So sad — didn’t know him personally, but this is our town — we are the biggest smallest town — we are all connected in one way or another
— sports, school or just mutual friends,” wrote Cindy Yenchik. “He protected our community for many years and we’re proud of our town. His children, his wife
— we as a community will be there to support them.”
The biggest smallest town. I could never come up with a better description of Hamilton. Some 90,000 people, and everyone knows everyone else. I joke about it sometimes, often asking people if they’re “Joey’s cousin,” because just about everyone in Hamilton has a cousin named Joey. (That sound you just heard was 90,000 people nodding their head at once.) My guess as to why New Jersey’s ninth-largest municipality somehow feels tiny? Because so many residents (or parents of residents) of Hamilton came from Trenton — a small town city if there ever was one — and the feeling of community was simply transferred a few miles up the road.
That’s just a guess. Who knows what it is. But it is unmistakably true: There is a sense of Hamilton against the World in the township. It can be annoying and confusing to outsiders (especially us outsiders who grew up in north Jersey) but at times like these, it’s clear the people of the township can rally like no other. And rally they will.
One day, the facts surrounding Tom White’s death will be forgotten, but I’m 100 percent confident the feeling never will.