Fallen trooper memorialized with bench
On the 40th anniversary of his death, Texas Trooper Russell Lynn Boyd was memorialized with a granite bench on the Weatherford College campus Wednesday afternoon, with his widow, Sherri Box; parents, Ann and Ralph Boyd; and other family members in attendance.
Boyd graduated from WC in 1978 with a degree in criminal justice and completed the DPS Academy in 1982. On Oct. 11, 1983, Boyd was shot and killed by a subject he stopped for a traffic violation on State Highway 6 near Hempstead. He was 25 years old.
The suspect had gone on a shooting spree earlier that day, killing six other people. He was later arrested and was executed in 1987.
The memorial bench project was spearheaded by recent WC graduate Jo Ann McClendon,
who chose the endeavor as her capstone project for her bachelor’s degree in organizational
leadership. Local philanthropists Heather and Howard Walsh funded the project.
Law enforcement personnel from Weatherford, Parker County, Wise County, DPS, the WC Police Department and cadets from the WC law enforcement academy were present as McClendon, who previously worked as a dispatcher, recounted many near-miss experiences and how officers had limited communications in the 1980s with their home base.
“I started in law enforcement as a dispatcher when I was 19,” she said. “From day one, it was ingrained in me that the most important element of the dispatcher’s job was the safety of the officers and the other first responders we dispatch. Our job was to provide them with the information to help keep them safe, and we were their lifeline to communicating with other officers so that they had the backup they needed.”
Not long after starting her career with DPS, photos of fallen officers were installed in the driver’s license office, and seeing the images had a lasting impact on her.
“These officers are the frontline that keep us safe and make sure that most of us never have to face the worst,” McClendon said. “And when the worst happens, these officers are willing to give everything in exchange for our safety, and they deserve to be remembered.”