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Loosing one Police oficer in the line of duty is too much, Today Chris Marano will be burried

By
Real Estate Agent with The Monaghan Group DRE #BR526609000

They will gather at a Peoria church at 10 this morning as all around them people sprint to the shopping malls in one final frantic push to be ready for Christmas.

On motorcycles and in cruisers they will come. From across the state, Arizona's law enforcement community will come to pay tribute to one of their own; to shoulder some small piece of the grief for those who loved him the most.

We should be there as well.

There is never a good day to bury a police officer. But surely, the day before Christmas Eve must be the worst day of all, especially when the officer was just 28. Especially when he had a wife and four children -- the youngest not even four months old, the older ones still babies themselves.

Department of Public Safety Officer Chris Marano was killed last Thursday while trying to stop the fleeing driver of a stolen car. That driver didn't just steal this Christmas from 7-year-old Savanna and 5-year-old Brianna and Saleen, and baby Bella, born Sept. 3. For them, and for their mom Shelly, Christmas will always be a reminder of what they have lost.

We should make sure that they also know what we have lost.

By all accounts, Officer Marano was a fine man, a good husband and adoring father, the sort of person we should all aspire to be. He protected his country by serving in the United States Navy for five years and then came home to protect his community.

He was protecting us all last Thursday night when he died there on Loop 101.

Now, as families come together to celebrate this most wonderful time of the year, one family must somehow find a way through this most terrible time of their lives.

Which is where you and I come in.

A wise woman once told me that at a time like this, the only wrong thing to do is nothing.

So set aside the frantic holiday preparations and go to this morning's funeral service, if you can. It will begin at 10 a.m. at Christ Church of the Valley, 7007 W. Happy Valley Road in Peoria. I'm told there should be plenty of room. If not, spill out onto the sidewalk to pay silent tribute to the man and to those like him who serve in every corner of our state.

Make a donation, if you can, to the Christopher Marano Memorial Fund at any Desert Schools Federal Credit Union (Account: #4326392835).

But most importantly, write to the family and let them know that Officer Marano's service and his sacrifice is appreciated. Letters should be addressed to the Family of Officer Christopher Marano, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Post Office Box 6638, Mail Drop 1000, Phoenix, 85005.

"Those cards will mean a lot," Sharon Knutson-Felix told me.

She should know. Her husband, DPS Officer Doug Knutson, was struck and killed on Loop 202 as he stood beside an abandoned car. It'll be 11 years next week and Sharon still has the cards that people sent, the letters and the hand-drawn pictures offered by strangers. She gets them out now and then and rereads them. Through them, her grandchildren get to see a piece of their grandfather, to understand that his death mattered and that people took the time to say so.

 We should once again take the time to say so.

 "Those cards will mean a lot to them," she said. "Those kids will be able to read those cards for a long time, about how people cared."

Officer Marano's children can't possibly understand much more than that daddy won't be coming home this Christmas. But then there will be next Christmas and all the Christmases to come. Someday they'll be older and they should know what he meant to this community.

Officer Marano, by the way, is the first Arizona police officer to die in the line of duty this year. Damn.

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