Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, January 2, 2019
3
F aces of N ewburgh
Serving a community behind the badge and the altar
BY KATELYN CORDERO
[email protected]
A
loud shot rings through the air, all
of a sudden he opens his eyes. He is
immediately seized with fear as he
realizes where he slept walk to this time.
A young Robert McLymore was woken in
the dead of night on Chamber Street by
the sound of a gunshot. He sprints back to
his house, where fear is replaced by panic
as he realizes he locked himself out.
“It was so disturbing to me because
if they’re shooting out there while i
am sleepwalking I could have been
the innocent person to get shot,” said
McLymore. “Growing up in Newburgh
taught me strength endurance, stamina,
and mental fortitude. In the 80s living
downtown there was a lot of negative
around but you had to have the willpower
to come out of where you are.”
McLymore watched Newburgh rise
from a city beaten down by violence and
a heavy drug epidemic to what it is today.
He dedicated his life to making Newburgh
a better place through community
outreach and as Pastor of Newburgh’s
Life Restoration Church.
Many in Newburgh know him as
Pastor McLymore, but he is also known
as Sgt Mac to residents in Wallkill and
Middletown.
When he was a little boy, his mother
Mary McLymore would listen to her son
preach to his siblings, always taking the
center stage of any room he entered. She
suspected he would become a pastor but
did not anticipate his career choice before
rising to the status of pastor. McLymore,
on the other hand, never expected to end
up a pastor of the church his father built.
As a kid, McLymore’s goal was to
become a police officer. In junior year
at Newburgh Free Academy he recalls
walking through the halls of the women’s
ward in Riker’s Island on a field trip for his
criminal justice class. Walking through
the female ward, left him terrified but
reinforced his desire to take a career in
law enforcement.
“After they took us to the female portion,
they were no joke,” said McLymore “I
said I never want to be behind bars.
Growing up in Newburgh it shaped what
I wanted to do. It kept me focused. It took
me a while to get there but I am happy
where I am.”
After graduating from John Jay
College of Criminal Justice, McLymore
McLymore sits at his desk at Newburgh’s Life Restoration Church in between a picture of him
and his son (left) and him and his father (right).
went on to become a police officer. He
may have stayed away from violence on
the streets but he did not stay away from
trouble working in investigations. His job
put his life at risk and kept his family
constantly praying to keep him safe.
After a near death experience in
investigations in Rockland County,
McLymore decided to find a lower risk
position in the Town of Wallkill Police
Department. He became the first African
American sergeant in the history of
the department. He was also the first
detective in the Town of Wallkill.
“It’s a lot of history, and I’m happy
about it,” said McLymore. “This is
something I want people to understand,
that if I can do it, you can do it too.”
He made his way to the position he
holds today by earning the trust and
respect of the people in the community
he serves. He would walk the streets of
Middletown as a community police officer
getting to know the people and trying
to understand the motive behind their
actions.
“The funny thing is I’ve had everybody
in the interrogation room and I can relate
to them,” said McLymore. “We sit down
and we talk even though they confess, but
to me it’s getting to know them. I just do it
because I want to know why you did what
you did.”
For McLymore, being a pastor and a
police officer are two things that go hand
in hand. He used the things he learned as
a pastor to inspire a man in Middletown
to open up his own construction company
after getting out of jail. He thanked
McLymore for showing him kindness in
the worst moment of his life.
“I don’t see any difference with being
a pastor and being a police officer,” said
McLymore. “A police officer enforces the
law, a pastor enforces biblical law. So
therefore a pastor is going to feed the
sheep with the word of God and they obey
the bible, but you also in the bible say
you must obey the laws of the land, your
regular laws as well. For me I try to use
the police field as a way of reaching out
to people.”
When he is not working at the police
station McLymore uses his spare time
to grow the church his father started in
1990. He was his father’s right hand man
as an ordained minister and eventually
an elder, until two years ago when he took
his father’s place as Pastor.
“I figured eventually I would take
over for him, but I wasn’t expecting it,”
said McLymore. “I had my career in law
enforcement and I was happy supporting
my father. I never expected him to step
down and pass on the church to me.
Pastor stepping down and passing the
church on to someone else is unheard of.”
To his mother Mary McLymore her son
taking over the ministry was destined to
happen. She knew from when he was a
child that he would become a pastor.
“Before he was born the pastor at my
church, Robert S. William Sr, put his
hands on my stomach and said ‘I transfer
my anointing onto him’” said Mary. “He’s
walking in the path God has chosen for
him.”
The McLymore name is deeply ingrained
in the fabric of the City of Newburgh. His
family has created countless programs
for the community and worked with other
leaders to take the streets riddled with
needles and paraphernalia he saw as a kid
to what they are today.
The work of McLymore and his family
was recognized by the city recently when
a street was named in honor of Robert
McLymore.
“People ask me why I’m so passionate
about Newburgh,” said McLymore. “It’s
because of everything that I’ve been
through and the potential that I know
this city has. You have people with all
different backgrounds, people of all
different ethnicities and if we can all
get along we can change the city. Maybe
I’m crazy, maybe I have too much faith
to believe that this city can be the bright
light of New York but this is what I believe
and it starts with us as a community.”
McLymore’s youngest daughter took down
the cover on McLymore Square at her
father’s street naming ceremony.