Honoring Trooper Brooke Jones-Story

Note: Some of these photos are not mine - they are from various sources.

There were hundreds of flags near the school and all around our village.

These 12 flags represent her years of service as a trooper.

Brooke's services were held at our school - which is also her school. She graduated from here in 2003.

There were many signs honoring her.

C.O.P. S. came in and helped with all of the arrangements. What an organization! With the help of MANY others, we were all able to truly honor Brooke.

Hundreds of officers came from more than 30 states and Canada to honor Brooke, both at the visitation on Tuesday and the funeral on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, we stood in line for a couple of hours before getting into the gym. We were the last two people to make it in before the Officer Walk-through which began with some of Brooke's fellow Illinois State Troopers from District 16. Next came the K9s - so many. I didn't get a good picture of the dogs.

Then more D16 officers followed by so many other officers. The walk-through lasted about 35 minutes and consisted of officers walking at a brisk rate past Brooke's ashes and the family. 

We had at least 3 city/county officers in attendance from across the Midwest that went to school here; two of them were classmates of our son who is a Trooper. 

So many, many came to pay their respects. While waiting in line, I stood by a retired Chicago Police Department detective. He was interesting to talk with. At one point, he told me his wife passed away in early January and this is the 10th or 11th funeral he's attended since her funeral. All of them were police related. How very kind of him to attend.

The following photos are from Wednesday. 

The black curtain has blue lights projecting up.
The two officers in front are guarding her ashes. This honor guard changed every 15 minutes.

There were so many officers I'm told over 1300 ...

This was taken from my seat high on the bleachers.

This was taken from near the back of the gym.

We were told to 'Hold on tight to those awesome memories.'  

After the inside part of the funeral, we all went outside to stand in and around the high school parking lot. I did not get a photo of the fly-over; I was too busy watching it and the 21 gun salute and the echo taps. 

The final call for Brooke from the dispatcher really did me in. There weren't many dry eyes. 16-42, you will be remembered.

About one-fourth of our streets were closed for police squad car parking and those streets were all made into one-way streets for 30 hours. You can see the cars are parked 3 abreast on this street ready for the procession.

The procession went out into the country. I'm told 599 cars were in the procession. There were still squad cars left in our village.

Helen Keller's words: What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us. 

#PleaseMoveOver