Colleagues lay West Palm Beach police captain to rest
WEST PALM BEACH - Hundreds of officers, friends and relatives Thursday mourned the death of Capt. Ronald Kirkman, 45, who died Sunday of cancer. Police Chief Ric Bradshaw presented the flag that draped his casket to Capt. Kirkman's widow and three children after the full officer's funeral complete with bagpipes, trumpet, three-gun salute and helicopter fly-over. More than 130 police vehicles were part of the procession. Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies were left to patrol the city while West Palm Beach police attended ceremonies. Capt. Kirkman had been with the department 24 years. 'He was very proud of his family. His integrity was beyond reproach,' said Sgt. Oscar Smallwood, a longtime friend and co-worker. Officer Kelly DeMarco said: 'He was a policeman's policeman.' At the end of the funeral, a dispatcher came on the officers' radios and announced 'Attention all units, Captain Ronald Kirkman, ID number 509, is 10-7' meaning out of service.
Capt. Kirkman, whose sage advice and frank manner led him to become a role model for the officers he worked with, joined West Palm Beach police in 1973. Exactly a year before his death, he fulfilled a life's goal of becoming head of the patrol officers. Doctors found a tumor behind his throat in July and he had been hospitalized at Good Samaritan Medical Center since Nov. 10, said longtime friend and co-worker Sgt. Oscar Smallwood.
Throughout the time he was in internal investigations and the detective bureau, Capt. Kirkman remained a patrolman at heart, friends and coworkers said.
Capt. Kirkman was named officer of the year in 1978.
And at 6-feet-4, he was a welcome backup.
``I'll tell you, when you're on your back in an alley fighting off some guy, that's the guy you want to hear coming,'' Sgt. John Johnston remembered.
Section #29, space #1, lot#101
WEST PALM BEACH - Hundreds of officers, friends and relatives Thursday mourned the death of Capt. Ronald Kirkman, 45, who died Sunday of cancer. Police Chief Ric Bradshaw presented the flag that draped his casket to Capt. Kirkman's widow and three children after the full officer's funeral complete with bagpipes, trumpet, three-gun salute and helicopter fly-over. More than 130 police vehicles were part of the procession. Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies were left to patrol the city while West Palm Beach police attended ceremonies. Capt. Kirkman had been with the department 24 years. 'He was very proud of his family. His integrity was beyond reproach,' said Sgt. Oscar Smallwood, a longtime friend and co-worker. Officer Kelly DeMarco said: 'He was a policeman's policeman.' At the end of the funeral, a dispatcher came on the officers' radios and announced 'Attention all units, Captain Ronald Kirkman, ID number 509, is 10-7' meaning out of service.
Capt. Kirkman, whose sage advice and frank manner led him to become a role model for the officers he worked with, joined West Palm Beach police in 1973. Exactly a year before his death, he fulfilled a life's goal of becoming head of the patrol officers. Doctors found a tumor behind his throat in July and he had been hospitalized at Good Samaritan Medical Center since Nov. 10, said longtime friend and co-worker Sgt. Oscar Smallwood.
Throughout the time he was in internal investigations and the detective bureau, Capt. Kirkman remained a patrolman at heart, friends and coworkers said.
Capt. Kirkman was named officer of the year in 1978.
And at 6-feet-4, he was a welcome backup.
``I'll tell you, when you're on your back in an alley fighting off some guy, that's the guy you want to hear coming,'' Sgt. John Johnston remembered.
Section #29, space #1, lot#101
Colleagues lay West Palm Beach police captain to rest
WEST PALM BEACH - Hundreds of officers, friends and relatives Thursday mourned the death of Capt. Ronald Kirkman, 45, who died Sunday of cancer. Police Chief Ric Bradshaw presented the flag that draped his casket to Capt. Kirkman's widow and three children after the full officer's funeral complete with bagpipes, trumpet, three-gun salute and helicopter fly-over. More than 130 police vehicles were part of the procession. Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies were left to patrol the city while West Palm Beach police attended ceremonies. Capt. Kirkman had been with the department 24 years. 'He was very proud of his family. His integrity was beyond reproach,' said Sgt. Oscar Smallwood, a longtime friend and co-worker. Officer Kelly DeMarco said: 'He was a policeman's policeman.' At the end of the funeral, a dispatcher came on the officers' radios and announced 'Attention all units, Captain Ronald Kirkman, ID number 509, is 10-7' meaning out of service.
Capt. Kirkman, whose sage advice and frank manner led him to become a role model for the officers he worked with, joined West Palm Beach police in 1973. Exactly a year before his death, he fulfilled a life's goal of becoming head of the patrol officers. Doctors found a tumor behind his throat in July and he had been hospitalized at Good Samaritan Medical Center since Nov. 10, said longtime friend and co-worker Sgt. Oscar Smallwood.
Throughout the time he was in internal investigations and the detective bureau, Capt. Kirkman remained a patrolman at heart, friends and coworkers said.
Capt. Kirkman was named officer of the year in 1978.
And at 6-feet-4, he was a welcome backup.
``I'll tell you, when you're on your back in an alley fighting off some guy, that's the guy you want to hear coming,'' Sgt. John Johnston remembered.
Section #29, space #1, lot#101
WEST PALM BEACH - Hundreds of officers, friends and relatives Thursday mourned the death of Capt. Ronald Kirkman, 45, who died Sunday of cancer. Police Chief Ric Bradshaw presented the flag that draped his casket to Capt. Kirkman's widow and three children after the full officer's funeral complete with bagpipes, trumpet, three-gun salute and helicopter fly-over. More than 130 police vehicles were part of the procession. Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies were left to patrol the city while West Palm Beach police attended ceremonies. Capt. Kirkman had been with the department 24 years. 'He was very proud of his family. His integrity was beyond reproach,' said Sgt. Oscar Smallwood, a longtime friend and co-worker. Officer Kelly DeMarco said: 'He was a policeman's policeman.' At the end of the funeral, a dispatcher came on the officers' radios and announced 'Attention all units, Captain Ronald Kirkman, ID number 509, is 10-7' meaning out of service.
Capt. Kirkman, whose sage advice and frank manner led him to become a role model for the officers he worked with, joined West Palm Beach police in 1973. Exactly a year before his death, he fulfilled a life's goal of becoming head of the patrol officers. Doctors found a tumor behind his throat in July and he had been hospitalized at Good Samaritan Medical Center since Nov. 10, said longtime friend and co-worker Sgt. Oscar Smallwood.
Throughout the time he was in internal investigations and the detective bureau, Capt. Kirkman remained a patrolman at heart, friends and coworkers said.
Capt. Kirkman was named officer of the year in 1978.
And at 6-feet-4, he was a welcome backup.
``I'll tell you, when you're on your back in an alley fighting off some guy, that's the guy you want to hear coming,'' Sgt. John Johnston remembered.
Section #29, space #1, lot#101
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