partment that he was terminal, and that
doctors had advised stopping treatment.
“Throughout the entire process, the
entire department became close with Ray
and his family,” Norton notes. “Our liai-
son officers kept close contact and did an
excellent job making sure the family had
what they needed. Ray faced his battle
with conviction and a take-no-prisoners
attitude. He fought until the last day.”
In the early hours of Feb. 12, barely
a week after his 15th birthday – during
which 45 officers crammed into the
Schwartz’s living room to sing “Happy
Birthday” – Ray took a turn for the worse.
He went back to the hospital, where he
passed away.
“It really hit us hard,” Norton explains.
“Any time someone, especially a child,
gets sick, it’s very hard to deal with. And
watching parents deal with their child’s
illness and cope with a lot of grief is hard
to deal with. It’s been very emotional
across our whole department.”
As the family was planning for Ray’s fu-
neral, one thing was a given:
“He loved his uniform, and we thought
that’s what he should be buried in,” Stacy
said.
Cranford Local 52 led a fundraiser to
pay for Ray’s wake and Mass. And Ray’s
ceremony was attended by not only Cran-
ford police officers but also the town’s
Honorary Cranford Officer Raymond Schwartz’s
baseball card, part of a community relations
tradition initiated by former Chief Harry Wilde
for township kids to collect to get to know their
police officers.
firefighters and members of its EMS, as
well as first responders from surround-
ing counties. Thirty police cars led a pro-
cession, and bagpipers wailed a somber
send-off to Ray.
“We wanted to send him off with the
honor and respect that he deserved,”
states D’Ambola who, along with Ratti-
gan, served as a pallbearer during the fu-
neral.
“It was initially a community polic-
ing assignment,” Rattigan admits. “But it
grew more into a friendship, and then we
became part of the family.”
Everyone in the department remem-
bered their fallen honorary officer as the
“Ray” of light that he was.
“Ever since I met this kid, he never
had a bad day,” Rattigan comments. “He
always thought positively, even when he
was weak, and he never backed down. He
fought until the end and that inspired a
lot of us.”
Adds D’Ambola: “Ray set the example
that no matter what adversity you face,
it’s worth fighting for what you want. He
is the face of dignity, faith, loyalty and re-
spect.”
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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