To his family he was a husband and father, but to his community of Newington, Peter Lavery was their police officer. That was until he stepped in the line of fire while responding to a domestic disturbance.
Sunday, fellow officers, his family, and friends gathered at the Annual MPO Peter Lavery Memorial Run to remember a life lost 12 year ago, in December of 2004.
“Some days it feels like just yesterday . Some days you wake up and feel like you’re in that moment,” said Pam Lavery, Peter’s wife.
It’s a moment Pam Lavery wishes she didn’t have to relive. Each year since that fateful day when Lavery was killed, the community of Newington gathers together to honor his sacrifice.
“If you worked with Peter, if you knew Peter, you’re here,” said Jeanine Allen, a former police sergeant with the Newington Police Department.
Allen worked closely with Lavery. She volunteered to collect the $20 donation requested of riders as they pulled into Newington’s Churchill Park Sunday morning.
“I love Peter, I love his family. There’s just no other place I’d rather be at this time of year,” she added.
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His sisters and brothers in blue joined hundreds of others for a motorcycle ride through Connecticut, raising money for a cause near to Lavery’s heart.
“He went to college late in life and always wanted to promote younger people to further their education,” explained the Laverys’ son Ray.
The family said over the last twelve years they’ve raised $130,000 for a scholarship fund helping students who want to study law enforcement or the criminal justice system.
“He would be overwhelmed with this,” said Pam.
“It makes us feel great as a family that we have so much support from the community, but also that the community still believes in law enforcement here,” Ray added.
Knowing that in his death, Peter Lavery is helping young people follow in his footsteps, to become police officers themselves, protecting their own communities, helps heal the hearts of those who knew this hometown hero.
