EverythingWestport - Westport in Brief, January 30, 2011

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Wednesday, February 02, 2011

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EverythingWestport.com

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Deputy Chief John Gifford is a straightforward blend of civility, steadfastness, fairness and selfless service to his community. He could have been the state trooper in the classic Norman Rockwell painting ‘The Runaway’ where the officer stopped to share an ice cream with a little boy running away from home, a bundle of clothes and all the cares of the world upon his little shoulder.

And in pastoral Westport you couldn't ask for a better role model.

Many seasoned Westporters remember Gifford as a kid pumping gas at the Cumberland farms across from Lees Supermarket. And the old-timers down at Wilfred's Garage remember the red GTO Gifford drove as a teenager.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010, Gifford spent his last official day in the office as a Deputy Chief, Executive Officer and policeman. He is retiring effective January 8, 2011 after serving the Town of Westport for nearly 34 years.

He was packing. Not the Sig Sauer 40 Caliber service weapon, the last of a long line of firearms he carried as a police officer. Rather, Gifford was packing his personal items, awards and citations, statements of recognition and affiliation that quietly spoke volumes to Gifford's commitment to public service and community caring.

"When I was a senior at Westport High School, my guidance counselor, Miss Elaine McLaughlin, asked me what I wanted to do with my life," Gifford said. "I was considering the Coast Guard, or working for the Prelude Corporation, Westport's celebrated lobstering company.

"At the time I had a police scanner, so I was also considering becoming a police officer."

In the end, McLaughlin prompted Gifford to take the school's SAT college entrance exams that eventually led to Gifford completing an associate degree program with BCC and later earning his bachelor's degree from Salve Regina in 1978.

Gifford became a reserve police officer in May of 1977. "They gave me two badges, no training and no gun," Gifford laughed.

Gifford graduated from the Fall River Police Academy in June of 1980, where upon he became a full-time officer for the department.

In 1986, he was advanced to sergeant.

"This Commendation was from the Board of Selectmen," Gifford said as he pulled the plaque from his office wall and put into a cardboard box. "And this one is a Boy Scouts of America Silver Teepee Award."

"I met John as a freshman when he was a senior at Westport High," said Bonny Gifford, John's wife of 30 years. Bonny is Assistant Superintendent of the Nauset Public School District on Cape Cod. "Every action and every decision he has ever made is based on honesty and because it's the right thing to do."

"I think one of the more important impacts on John's career came when he attended the three-month FBI Leadership Academy program. It got him out of Westport and gave him a broader perspective of the world," Bonny said.

"John always put his family first. Our two boys, aged 26 and 28, recently thanked him for the "childhood you provided us.""

"I remember riding on the school bus with John," said Town Clerk Marlene Samson. "He was a few grades below me, a good kid."

"John is a nice man," said Ana Rego, a school classmate and Westport resident. "He has been in love with Bonny forever."

"John's a great guy," said Tony Vieira, a candidate this year for Westport selectman. "He was a good softball player. Whenever there was a pickup game or a league starting up, John got a call."

More on John Gifford's retirement later this week.

Westport Police Department loses two of its finest. Westport Police Department employees Deputy Chief John Gifford and Nancy Braga at their mid January retirement party held at Rachael's Lakesider, and attended by over 150 friends, fellow workers and local officials. You can't find two nicer people, and the town will sorely miss their service.

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