Service honors fallen Officers
Posted by sharkdlzl - 05/11/08, 10:05 amOfficer Robert Timothy "Tim" Buckman's name is comprised of 20 letters, which now are set in stone, along with the thousands of letters that make up the 258 names engraved on the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial.
On Friday, family members, law enforcement personnel and friends honored the memory of the men and women who have died in the line of duty by attending the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial Service.
Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal
Sally Buckman, wife of the late Robert Timothy "Tim" Buckman, a Macksville police officer; granddaughters Brianna Buckman, 8, and Mattison Buckman, 5; Gov. Kathleen Sebelius; and Attorney General Stephen Six walk to the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial on Friday on the north side of the Statehouse during a ceremony to honor officer Buckman. He was killed while trying to warn people in south-central Kansas in the storm that devastated Greensburg a year ago.
Buckman sustained fatal injuries May 4, 2007, while trying to alert residents in south-central Kansas of a tornado that later hit Greensburg. His squad car was caught up by a tornado and hurled hundreds of yards. He died May 8.
Buckman's sister Laura Stimatze said the service meant a lot to the family.
"We were very impressed with all of the officers that were here for us today," she said. "We are so honored to have been here and to see the support everybody has shown for the family."
The memorial service began in the second-floor rotunda of the Statehouse, where Gov. Kathleen Sebelius expressed her gratitude for the law enforcement officers of Kansas.
"I want to say thank you. Thank you for risking your lives to save ours. Thank you for protecting those who can't protect themselves, Sebelius said. "Our state is the great state it is because of you."
Sebelius — who had ordered flags flown at half-mast Friday and again next Friday to honor fallen officers — then went on to speak of Buckman, the sole officer whose name was added to the memorial this year.
"Officer Buckman did what he had done so many times before and as law enforcement officers do each and every day, Sebelius said. "He put the safety of his own life on the line in order to protect his community."
That is a fact that Buckman's daughters December Cole and Kylee Buckman are proud of.
"He was a great man. He died doing what he loved to do," Buckman said.
"And he always thought of everyone else first," Cole said. "The memorial service was very honorable for our Dad."
