I don't think the offical Labor Day celebration had much to do with this moving story of a community tribute to a public employeein the Herald today, but it does.
Let's hope Attleboro properly rewarded Jeffrey with a living wage and good benefits while he was alive.
Jeffrey Burgess wasn’t the kind of guy who liked shiny black limos. He loved his family and his Attleboro water department job, and yesterday they gave the 35-year-old the kind of funeral he would have wanted.
Burgess died Monday after he was hit by a car while repairing a water line break. In place of a hearse, his body was transported to St. John the Evangelist Church and St. Stephen’s Cemetery in a water department pickup piled with flowers.
Please share widely!
…and death in the line of duty.
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p>He, too, deserves a poem:
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p>Vigil Candle for Jeffrey Burgess
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p>Your files are closed.
The phone in your office rings
but someone else answers.
All of your projects
will be completed by others.
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p>Your wife pauses, to look quietly
At your work clothes
Hanging, silently
With dust beginning to collect on their broad shoulders.
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p>She begins her day as she always has:
Your death left her behind.
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p>You honored Attleboro and public service
Your job and your work were your life.
<
p>Deborah Sirotkin Butler
cSeptember 2009