My father the hero
Biggest Fan
The children of Westfield Local 90 and Cranford Local 52
members stood on tiptoes with eager, searching eyes as they
scanned the sea of blue for their dads. The four kids with their
moms made sure that they were easy to spot in the crowd,
wearing matching “my dad is my hero” T-shirts and holding up
homemade signs to welcome their daddies as the Unity Tour
arrived.
The Police Unity Tour’s arrival at the National Law Enforce-
ment Officers Memorial is as much a victory for families like
these, who wait patiently to see and cheer their loved ones, as
it is for the riders.
“It’s a relief for us that we’re not worrying, did they make it
to the next stop OK?” explains Tammy Kleeman, also known
as “Mrs. 64” by her T-shirt showing her husband’s badge num-
ber from Westfield. “Just being able to actually have them with
you and knowing that they’re safe is kind of the best part of the
whole ride.”
Kleeman and Kerri Ostrander, whose husband also is a Lo-
cal 90 member, made sure that their children understood why
their dads left home for four days to travel to Washington, D.C.
with a group of hundreds of law enforcement riders.
“Why does daddy ride?” they asked, to which 7-year-old Isa-
bella Stulpin responded with confidence:
“To support all of the policemen who died, and to make sure
that everyone knows that they care.”
Four days can feel like a lifetime to a little girl who misses her
No. 1 hero every day that he’s gone. Isabella and her older sister
looked forward to their father’s calls from the road to check in
with his family each stop of the way.
Isabella Stulpin shows the sign
she made to greet her father,
Cranford Local 52 member Joe
Stulpin, when he arrived with the
Unity Tour in Washington, D.C.
As Officer Joe Stulpin of Cranford Local 52 concluded the
Unity Tour for the fourth time, he was greeted by his wife and
two kids, who screamed when they spotted his familiar face
amongst the sea of riders. After hugging her dad close, Isabella
presented him with a story that she wrote while he was away,
each page etched with stick figure illustrations of her hero’s
journey to Washington, D.C.
Isabella was proud to read her story:
We all missed you daddy. You took care of me for the seven
years I was alive, and you mean a lot to me because you are…
nice, kind, friendly and, most of all, you are loving. I love you so
much. From Isabella to Joe, #1 Daddy. The end. d
Putting it all on the line
Day one hit Perth Amboy Local 13 member Dan Mendes with
a dose of the Unity Tour’s fine line between privilege and pain.
The pack he was riding in started to slow down. He got a little
too close to another bike, lost his balance and went down.
Mendes came up with a sub-fracture of his left elbow, and his
first Tour ended right there. So that was the pain. The privilege
hit Mendes when he joined the Local 13 team in riding with
Chapter 37 and departing from the World Trade Center site.
That amplified his desire to ride, which started with wanting
to honor Local 13 member Thomas Raji, who died in the line of
duty in 2008.
“I always made a promise to myself that I was going to come
down and ride down for him,” Mendes confided.
The privilege and the pain coursed through Local 13 member
Gilbert Simao, who has been on the job with Perth Amboy since
1998 and worked with Raji. A few years ago, Local 13 made up
shirts with Raji’s face on the sleeve and a an expression of re-
membrance on the back. Simao proudly wore the shirt when
the Perth Amboy team of eight riders arrived at the National
Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
At that point, he looked back on the previous three days and
46
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ JUNE 2017
The Perth Amboy Local 13 Unity Tour team included Gilbert Simao, far left,
wearing his shirt to honor fallen member Thomas Raji, and Dan Mendes,
second from right in cast, who was hurt on the first day of the ride.
felt the fine line.
“When you’re feeling those moments where mostly the psy-
chological and the physical hurts, you just have to think about
the guy who made the ultimate sacrifice,” Simao disclosed.
“And that little bit that you may be going through does not even
compare to the sacrifice that he had to make.” d