WEBVTT 00:00:09.939 --> 00:00:11.939 on Wednesday of this week in a quiet, flower filled chapel, we paid our 00:00:15.179 --> 00:00:21.407 final respects to a man. You and I love. What words can we find now to 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:26.546 express our respect for him. How can we voice our understanding of the 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:32.467 qualities which made him our friends, Who was this man? What did he do to 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:36.076 earn the affection and the respect and the love of his neighbors and his 00:00:36.109 --> 00:00:40.597 associates, and of those who knew him only by the words others said about 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:45.167 him. Twice he stood before the people of this community as a candidate for 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:49.607 the office of Sheriff, and twice you gave him your votes and your 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:55.207 confidence in the dark hours of sunday morning last that it must to all 00:00:55.240 --> 00:01:01.107 men. Death came to Ernest wrote, he was the high Sheriff of Maricopa 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:06.656 County, but in this moment of our grief at his departure, I'm thinking not 00:01:06.689 --> 00:01:11.826 of the office he had, nor of his successful elections, but rather of Ernie 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:17.277 roach the man. It's commonplace to say kind things of a man after he's 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:22.617 gone. Ernie wrote, she was not a common man in a world of grasping, 00:01:22.650 --> 00:01:27.697 struggling self seekers. His strength was devoted to helping others. He 00:01:27.730 --> 00:01:31.367 had no sympathy for the criminal, but he had a great capacity for 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:35.147 understanding the people whose troubles brought them to the Sheriff's 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:41.036 office. He possessed patience and tolerance to a degree far beyond any 00:01:41.069 --> 00:01:46.197 other man I've ever known, but he had a deep and militant contempt for the 00:01:46.230 --> 00:01:50.527 conniving, vicious criminals, who played on the weakness of others. He 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:55.367 fought for the cause of decency and justice and made no apology to those 00:01:55.400 --> 00:02:00.426 who favored compromise with the powerful forces of graft and greed. The 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:06.286 law was his sacred trust to any roach. Friendship was a living thing. It 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.436 brought him out in the middle of the night to help people. It took him 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:14.416 into danger on 100 occasions. It cost him the political support of some 00:02:14.449 --> 00:02:20.027 less tolerant men. He was then a man whose friendship endured through 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:26.057 adversity and prosperity, men on whom great authority is bestowed react 00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:30.497 differently. Some become conscious of their power, some use their position 00:02:30.530 --> 00:02:34.506 to gain favors. Some men automatically take it as their right to enjoy all 00:02:34.539 --> 00:02:40.327 the attributes of power. Ernie Roach was not this type of man. Authority 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:45.077 in his hands was preserved as a sacred trust, a grant from the people to 00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:49.927 be used only in their interest. There was no swagger, no conceit in the 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:55.106 makeup of Sheriff roach, he had a reverence and respect for authority. 00:02:55.139 --> 00:03:00.066 Polar position, had little influence on him, and yet his every official 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:05.406 act was tempered with a kind of mercy of father has for his son. Ernie 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.867 Roach was not a learned man in the sense of the softest who measure 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:13.606 learning by books and college degrees, but he had an understanding of life 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:18.207 far wiser and more accurate than those who gain their human experience 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:23.737 secondhand through books. There are certain words and phrases I remember, 00:03:23.770 --> 00:03:28.217 which were peculiarly the property of Ernest wrote. They were a reflection 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:34.436 of the man himself, sincere forthright honest. When his friend Lon Jordan 00:03:34.469 --> 00:03:39.177 died, Ernie Roach became the logical successor and he said to me, this is 00:03:39.210 --> 00:03:43.346 not what I want. I don't want the front seat, I wanted things to go on as 00:03:43.379 --> 00:03:48.397 they were with lawn and just work here and do my best. But the people put 00:03:48.430 --> 00:03:54.017 him in the front seat, they made him the man, and for those brief months 00:03:54.050 --> 00:04:00.017 he served as the man. I watched him and my respect for him and my pride in 00:04:00.050 --> 00:04:06.166 him increase. He was essentially shy in retiring. A quality observers 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:10.416 might say would defeat a politician. He wanted his men to have the credit 00:04:10.449 --> 00:04:14.807 for their achievements. He did not seek the headlines for the front page. 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.866 There was no pretense in earnest, wrote now the High Sheriff is an 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:22.937 important figure and one might expect the High Sheriff to be preoccupied 00:04:22.970 --> 00:04:27.187 with more important matters and the concern of a mother with a boy who was 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:31.187 in trouble or a man who had a row with his neighbors or a husband and wife 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:35.437 who couldn't get along. But I've seen any road step to the public counter 00:04:35.470 --> 00:04:39.137 in the sheriff's office and give his personal attention to the people who 00:04:39.170 --> 00:04:44.437 came seeking help in the political campaign just ended. Ernie wrote the 00:04:44.470 --> 00:04:48.426 candidate for nomination, had one opponent, Ernie wrote, the candidate 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:53.286 refused to use the power of Ernie wrote the Sheriff in his own behalf. He 00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:57.067 refused to resort to personalities. He made no answer to some of the 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:02.147 unwise and unfounded political charges made against him. And of this he 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:07.257 said to me that boy has as much right for the sheriff as I have. He 00:05:07.290 --> 00:05:11.846 believed in thrift and honesty and dealing above the table. He accepted 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:16.197 minor reverses and setbacks philosophically, and when things went wrong, 00:05:16.230 --> 00:05:20.096 I've heard him say, that's the way of the world, That's the way of the 00:05:20.129 --> 00:05:24.736 world. He believed passionately in the democratic processes and in the 00:05:24.769 --> 00:05:28.457 wisdom and the right of the people to govern themselves. And he gave of 00:05:28.490 --> 00:05:34.556 himself without reservations to serve you and me. These then are the 00:05:34.589 --> 00:05:39.906 things we remember his tolerable, his loyalty, his courage, and his 00:05:39.939 --> 00:05:46.507 devotion to duty. In the nearly 16 years he served us as Deputy Sheriff. 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:51.337 We learn to love him for these qualities. What can a man purchased with 00:05:51.370 --> 00:05:57.906 his few allotted years on this earth riches, power, fame, or the respect 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:02.827 and the love of his fellow men? Ernie roach was never a rich man. He 00:06:02.860 --> 00:06:06.536 struggled as most of us do to pay the rent and the groceries and to keep 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:10.937 his Children well and healthy and to give them the things we all want for 00:06:10.970 --> 00:06:16.106 our Children. Power was never a personal thing with him. He had no use for 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:20.926 fame, but he enjoyed the solid respect, his ability as a peace officer 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:24.627 returned for him and he enjoyed and respected the friendship in the 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:31.377 approval of his fellows, if being loved and honored and trusted. Makes a 00:06:31.410 --> 00:06:38.147 man great. Then I say Ernie wrote was a great man. If being honest and 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:45.027 trustworthy, loyal, makes a man great. Then any roach was a great man. In 00:06:45.060 --> 00:06:50.596 the silent grief of those people who fill that chapel on Wednesday last 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:56.156 there was to be seen sincere testimony proclaimed before the world, what 00:06:56.189 --> 00:07:03.096 this man had done and been you and I will long remember the personal 00:07:03.129 --> 00:07:08.656 things which made Ernie roach dear to us. The years will pass, and this 00:07:08.689 --> 00:07:13.486 land of ours will grow, but in the hearts of the rich men and the poor men 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:17.647 , and the farmers, and the laborers, and the politicians, and the 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:23.007 businessmen, and the lawyers, and the plain people, all those who mourn 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:30.356 his passing there will live forever. The memory of Ernest Rose, Sheriff of 00:07:30.389 --> 00:07:32.389 Maricopa.