Read: eulogy from officer's funeral

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Officer Daniel Meegan gave the eulogy Wednesday, when loved ones and community members said good bye to Officer Patty Parete.

You can read the eulogy below:

On behalf of the Parete Family, Patty's friends and The Buffalo Police Department I would like to thank you for attending the service today.

The first time I saw Patty I was at a local Convenient store getting a cup of coffee. I noticed a rookie officer standing in line, you could tell she was a new officer by the pressed pants and freshness of the uniform which was worn exactly the way the manual of procedures calls for. I said welcome to the department and she looked at me, nodded and quietly replied thanks.

It wasn’t until years later that Patty transferred to the B-District on the other midnight platoon, I knew that she hadn’t found a spot in the department yet that she could call home, sometimes officers move around a bit until they find a place that fits them. I had said to a fellow officer that I was going to go out of my way to  make her feel welcome and oh boy I never imagined what was what was going to be in for.

The first night Patty work on the Platoon I walked into the Briefing Room, I saw Patty sitting in my
seat in the back of the room. I glanced over and saw Officers Jill Halor and George Wagner smiling at me just waiting for my reaction. I walked over to an empty chair near George and Jill and just sat down as if nothing was wrong.

Well within a week or so I was sitting next to Patty joking and laughing about any nonsense that I could think up, and usually getting a dirty look from Lt. Marilyn Wisniewski during our briefings.

Patty was a breath of fresh air to the Platoon, we all started socializing outside of work and things
on the job were going great, it was routine to have several cars covering calls, we were having fun.

Patty was a master of the computer, she would make up funny things on the computer about all of us. She had quite a sense of humor.

For the civilians here that might not know, the city is divided into five districts, A through E and each district has four sectors, 1-4. In the B-District Patty was assigned to the three sector as B530 along with my brother Sean B532 and myself B531. The three of us spent a lot of time together. We would start our shift hurrying to Starbuck’s to get a blast of caffeine and if there were no pending calls on the MCT we, well I should say Patty and I, would catch up and listen to Sean harass the employees about the workers that harvest the Starbuck’s coffee and the political views of the company. The job was going good we all were getting along and enjoying each other.

Then came December 5th, it started out no different than any other night. We were at briefing, I was sitting with Patty, Officer Carl Andolina was sitting in front of us, the Lieutenant gave us our assignments Patty and Carl were in our Detail car, I was B531, Sean had called off, he was sick. We  didn’t stop for coffee that night and about nine that evening our lives were changed forever.

December 2006 was a blur, every waking hour we were either at ECMC or working at the B-District.
Chief Donna Berry also had Jill and I accepting community awards for Carl and Patty. We were given a conference room by the hospital. It had along table with 12 chairs, a fridge and enough food to feed an army.

We were hoping and praying for a miracle that Patty would recover and everything would be back to normal, but there was another miracle taking shape in that room. We met Patty’s Mom and Dad. Mr. Parete is a soft spoken man who was there to support Patty and comfort the rest of us, and then there was Mrs. Parete, AKA Dot, she had command of the room, a real type A personality, sitting at the head of the table like a CEO, I loved her dearly she was quite a woman. Dot didn’t drive and that task fell on Officer Dawn Lopez, Dawn had quite a job trying to keep Dot in check.

Then we got to meet Patty’s friends, Maryellen, Doc Frazier, Brianna, Roe, Millie , Carol, Lynn,
Quite Kathy, Polly, Christy and so many more, they were a great support to Patty. Then it was January, Patty and Maryellen were off to the Kessler Center in New Jersey for rehab and we suddenly had time on our hands, well not for long, the benefit was taking shape, everyone was involved. Patty’s support team was working with The Police Department, the PBA, the City of Buffalo, venders, the public, it was chaos on steroids. On the night of the benefit the people of western New York came out and supported Patty and Carl and showed why this community is the best in the world. It was a huge success thanks to the volunteers and the people of the area.

Then we had the Motorcycle Run, Patty eventually came back to Buffalo, moved into her new house.
Things began to slow down, Patty was fighting each day to get better but the hope for that miracle was starting to fade, Patty was getting infections, Maryellen and Polly were battling to keep her health and spirits