TPSO deputy laid to rest

To his relatives, he was a loving family man.

To his friends, he was funny and always entertaining, whether he was the butt of the joke or the person doing the ribbing.

To his coworkers, he was a dedicated public servant who always put the people he protected before himself.

Those were just a few of the many ways Terrebonne Parish deputy Timmy Bergeron was remembered at a memorial service in his honor on Wednesday at the Houma Terrebonne Civic Center.

Hundreds of people flooded the complex, as rows of cars and police cruisers lined the parking lot. Many were dressed in official garb and represented numerous law enforcement departments from several local parishes and at least one other state: Mississippi.

Capt. Martin McLendon, of the Opelousas Police Department, made the 2-hour trek to Houma along with two of the agency’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officers to attend Bergeron’s funeral. As past president of the Louisiana DARE Officers Association, McLendon and Bergeron worked closely together on the recent state conference.

“Tim was a great guy who showed up with a terrific attitude and did the work,” McClendon said. “Whatever was needed, he made himself available.

“He was the type of guy who never took credit. He just wanted to see the DARE program continue to succeed,” McClendon added.

Describing Bergeron as a dedicated parent and family man, McLendon said, “He loved the DARE program and he loved his wife. We’ve lost a good man.”

Bergeron’s twin Thomas spoke on the same note, describing his brother as one of the most influential people he knew.

“I would be honored to someday be able to touch the number of lives that Timmy was able to positively affect,” said Thomas. “He was a hero. Truly a hero.”

Thomas Bergeron was one of several family members and coworkers who spoke on Timmy’s behalf.

“I could go on for years about Timmy,” said Terrebonne Parish sheriff Vernon Bourgeois. “There are so many stories and I promise you not a single one is bad.”

Bergeron spent a lot of his time aiding children as the supervisor of the DARE program.

Bourgeois said Bergeron would often get applause from the children when he walked into the classroom.

“His graduations were like the WWF on steroids,” Bourgeois recalled. “There were strobe lights, confetti. The kids loved it. He loved to wow people.”

Fellow DARE officer Steve Gibson said he’d never seen someone as dedicated to his trade as Bergeron.

“I remember one day, I was speaking at a DARE conference and I was running late,” Gibson said. “And Timmy looked and me and asked if he could fix my powerpoint presentation … I told him not to fix it, well I turned around and when I turned back, it was fixed … As I was going through my slides, I could see Timmy in the back of the room with a little smile. I knew everything would be OK.”

Following the ceremony, a motorcade of patrol cars and motorcycles made their way to Holy Rosary Cemetary on the east side of Houma, where lifelong friends and family laid Bergeron to rest.

As the funeral procession made its way down Main Street, a number of shopkeepers and customers stopped at the curb to pay respect to the fallen officer and his family.

Your Cleaners’ staff briefly shut down operations to watch as the hearse and hundreds of police units passed.

“We’re out here to pay our respects,” said James Kelly, whose wife Karen has served as the company’s supervisor for the past 22 years. “This is about all we can do.”

Although Kelly didn’t personally know Bergeron, he was familiar with his work. “I know he did a lot with DARE and with the department. I had seen him around a lot,” Kelly said. “He was a very nice man.”

As hundreds of police cars continued to stream by for another 15 minutes, merchants slowly began to return to work. Quietly standing in the same spot, his head bowed, Kelly stood at guard.

“We do this for him and his family,” Kelly said. “He was a very well liked man, I can see that,” he added, craning his neck toward the long line of emergency vehicles yet to pass by the shop.

A 21-gun salute rang out from behind a row of tombstones, as Bergeron’s coffin was lowered into a mausoleum.

For those who knew him, Bergeron will be remembered as a man of many faces. Bergeron’s memory will also continue far beyond the things he accomplished on earth, said his uncle, Rev. David Thibodeaux.

“The tombstone will read March 23, 1960 and February 7, 2010 with a dash in between them,” Thibodeaux said. “But the most important part is that dash. Because that represents everything Timmy’s done in between that one day, to the next. There are not many people I know whose dash represents more than Timmy’s did.”

A motorcade escorts the body of Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Deputy Capt. Timothy Bergeron, who was killed in the line of duty last week, to his final resting place at Holy Rosary Cemetary. * Photo by MICHAEL DAVIS