Life is a crazy thing. My mom’s accident one-and-a-half years ago was a reminder that life is short and no one is immune to having something bad happen to them-- she was hit by a truck while bicycling. The helmet saved her life (it was cracked in half) but she broke her neck and is now quadriplegic. On Saturday, I was again reminded that life is short with the news of two passings—one was a dear family friend, Judy Taylor, who was like a second mother to me and another was David’s friend and previous co-worker Carlos Puente-Morales.
Judy Taylor was the First Lady of SBU and Carlos Puente was a police officer in Des Moines, Iowa (a cop in Ottumwa for four years before that). Both had huge funerals, media coverage of their deaths and caused a “pause” in their cities. What I mean by “pause” is SBU was closed at noon on Wednesday in honor of her funeral and I-80 was temporarily closed on Friday for Puente’s funeral processional.
I am far from home and I have a new job. Although my boss is great and volunteered to work on my behalf so I could attend the funerals—Miss Judy’s was just too far away and David was going to Puente’s with 24 other Ottumwa Police Officers. I wanted to support my husband on Puente’s funeral day, so I decided to do so by making breakfast for the officers traveling to the funeral (I have a saying, “Serve food to those who serve and protect you”). I woke up at 2:30 a.m. on Friday and got to cooking. I made four batches of chocolate chip muffins and two batches sausage cheese balls (family recipe below). Instead of “hot sausage, I used sausage David made (himself) out of the boar meat he harvested from the boar he killed on his bachelor trip in Tennessee.
Aunt Ruth's Recipe
David's 650 lb boar
Our home decor, aka Betsy Sue
I timed the food to come out of the oven right before the officers left the PD, so it would still be hot. All of the sudden, I got a text from David letting me know that they were leaving the PD earlier than expected and to “HURRY!” At this time, one batch of muffins and both batches of sausage balls were in the oven. I crossed my fingers that they were done, threw the cheese balls into a 9x13 so they could cool on the drive to the PD and dumped the muffins in a basket. When I got to the PD, I raced to throw all of the muffins and sausage balls into Ziploc baggies so I could disperse them to each squad car traveling to Des Moines. With David’s help, they were all successfully delivered to the guys as they were pulling out of the parking lot at 4 a.m.
Leaving the PD
My kitchen when I returned home, and NO this is not staged. That is how much of a hurricane I was when David told me to hurry lol.
The officers arrived to Des Moines before 6 a.m. and lined their cars up to lead the processional of the funeral.
Here are some photos David took before the processional began.
In a day and age where the media and some of the population seem to be so anti-police, it is comforting to see so much support from the community, news coverage from the media (including a live stream of the funeral) and to see the law enforcement brotherhood in full force. David was floored by the amount of emergency officials who attended the funeral and contributed to the processional.
Below are photos of current and former Ottumwa Police Officers who served with Puente.
Rob Schutte, Nathan Wolff, David Lowe, and Matt Massaro
Rob Schutte, Nathan Wolff, David Lowe, Matt Massaro, and Steve Kovacs
Rob Schutte, Nathan Wolff, David Lowe, Cody McCoy, and Matt Massaro
I am grateful to the Ottumwa Police Department who made it possible for all officers who wanted to attend Puente's funeral to do so. I also applaud the newer members of the Ottumwa Police Department who stayed behind and picked up extra hours to cover the shifts so their fellow officers could pay tribute to their friend.
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