ment. The North met the South at a rest stop in Delaware and convoyed to D.C. chocked full with refreshments and lunch made possible by the PBA sponsorship.
The North bus included nearly 20 members of the DiNardo family.
Mary DiNardo, her three children, her sisters, nieces and more again
traveled to see their officer, Jersey City Detective Marc DiNardo who
was shot on July 21, 2009, while trying to apprehend two suspects
wanted for robbing and shooting a citizen.
As a long-time Garden State C.O.P.S. team member, Mary DiNardo
was able to serve as a combination peer supporter/hostess, and she
can relate to the trepidation accompanying the ride to D.C.
“The bus ride down is very quiet. It’s solemn,” DiNardo describes.
“You’re not sure what to expect when you get there and you’re even
dreading it a little bit. Then, you start talking to people, and they talk
about their officer. I know that first year I really appreciated that bus
ride.”
Survivors making the trip for the first time this year included
Dawn Stephens and her son, Scott, who lost Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Detective and Local 171 member John Scott Stephens on
Jan. 21, 2015, and the family of Corporal Scott Thompson, Manchester Township Officer and Local 246 member. They might have felt the
unknown the most, anticipating seeing the names of their loved
ones on the Memorial Wall for the first time.
But for those going for the first time, or the 15th consecutive year
like Bill and Judy Bosworth to honor their son, Andover Police
Department Officer William Bosworth, Jr. who was killed on Aug. 5,
1997, the bus trip down ultimately turns into a rolling support group.
And as the busses roll closer to the District, anxiety gives way to
hope.
“I was one of those people thinking about how I was going to raise
my kids by myself, and the bus trip gave me a chance to talk to somebody else in my position,” Preslar recalls. “I realized these are my
people. I know what it did to help me. That bus ride, it’s huge.”
From left, Garden State C.O.P.S. President Lisa Preslar with her daughters
Gracie and Julia at the Law Enforcement Memorial Wall where Williams
“Nichie” Preslar’s name in inscribed.
Hitting the Wall
So what lies at the end of the road to the National Law
Enforcement Memorial? Well, on her first trip in 2010, Mary DiNardo
arrived to find that it had been arranged for her to watch as Marc’s
name was inscribed on the Memorial Wall.
But what helps to make this road so fulfilling is that the New Jersey
survivors pretty much get the Memorial park all to themselves. Many
of them do come during Police Week to honor the fallen officers during the annual Candlelight Vigil. But that is a day and night filled with
tens of thousands coming to pay tribute to those law enforcement
officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, and there is just no room to
move.
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