Saluting a life of service
Patrolman James J. McVerry and his good life, which ended long ago, had almost been forgotten. The last memory of him was close to disappearing forever, but he deserved better.
On Feb. 15, 1929, the Pittsburgh police officer was racing to a fire on Brighton Road in the back of a police wagon with five other patrolmen. When the wagon overturned on Merchant Street, injuring all the officers, McVerry got the worst of it.
A gash to his head became severely infected. Exactly one month later, at age 60, the 25-year police veteran died. He was survived by his wife.
McVerry was mourned, but as his loved ones passed, so did the traces of his life.
There was nothing to commemorate his sacrifice, no public reminder that he had lived and died in service to others.
And that is where Senior Police Officer Rick Geppert and his son Rocky, an auxiliary police officer, both with the Oakmont Police Department, stepped in.
On their own time, they are investigators for the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial of Allegheny County.
Using websites, paper records and word of mouth, they build cases for forgotten fallen officers. So far, the Gepperts have successfully qualified 150 police officers across the state for official recognition.
At first, they did it solely for the sake of memorializing those officers' sacrifices, a measure of overlooked justice. But now they know how much this recognition means to the families of forgotten fallen officers and look to connect them.
“We realized that these fallen officers were their heroes before they were our heroes,” Rick says.
The daughter of Monroeville Police Sgt. Andrew Rusbarsky remembers how much it meant to her when the Gepperts got her father the recognition he deserved. Sgt. Rusbarsky died in 1968, years after he was severely injured on duty, and his daughter Margo, a retired Pittsburgh Rescue 1 paramedic, pays it forward. She searched for Patrolman McVerry's family.
Margo tracked down Senior U.S. District Judge Terry McVerry, who was happily surprised to get an out-of-the-blue phone call asking if he might be related to Patrolman McVerry.
“He was my father's favorite uncle,” the judge recalled. “My father always said that Uncle Jim was the greatest man he ever knew. He was dedicated to his job and his family, and he helped raise my father.”
The judge quickly retrieved an old packet of family photos from storage. Among the now-anonymous faces were three faded pictures of Uncle Jim, in uniform, astride his horse. Suddenly, the great-uncle he never knew was revived.
And so it was that earlier this month — 88 years after his death — Patrolman James J. McVerry's name was carved into the granite monument at the police memorial on Pittsburgh's North Side. And later that week, his name was added to the national memorial in Washington, D.C.
This is good work, finding forgotten heroes whose sacrifices have fallen through the cracks and giving them the honor they are due. And, now, as he should be, Pittsburgh Patrolman James J. McVerry will be remembered forever.
Joseph Sabino Mistick is a Pittsburgh lawyer (joemistick.com).
