Super Pete

Pete Lannon was the officer that came and calmed my mom down when her house was hit by a tree in a tropical storm. When I came down after the whole fiasco, I met Pete and realized that he was a quality guy. He started his law enforcement career in South Carolina, where he immediately joined the FOP. When Peter Fire called down to Holmes Beach, everyone told him that Pete was our guy.

Pete and I became good friends. He would take me out on the HBPD Boat, or we would drive around the beaches yucking it up.

In 2006 I found that Pete was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. He went on sick leave shortly after that. When I was visiting my mom in May of 2007, she told me that things were not looking good for Pete. Because of his weakened immune system, he could not see visitors, so I called him on the phone. His wife answered, and said that he was extremely tired and somewhat incoherent. She didn't think that it would even be a good idea for me to talk to him. In the background I heard "Is that Chuck?" - she turned the phone over to him. We spoke for a few minutes. I told him that he was my friend and brother, and that everyone was praying for him - what else can you say? We both knew that this would be the last time (in this world, anyway) that I would speak to him. He died June 1 of 2007.

He was an Officer Friendly and extremely popular with the kids at Anna Maria Elementary School. Above are the various tributes to him.

I said that I would only be doing fun stuff....well, I guess you could say that this was maybe not fun, but good in the sense that it pays tribute to a brother who truly was a great guy. It also shows that - through our fraternity - we are truly blessed to be brothers and sisters with some outstanding human beings.