Thursday night’s dinner was meant to celebrate and recognize working and retired law enforcement officers, longtime organizer Debbie Francis said.

“I think they’re happy they get honored,” she said.

Past and present

The VFW welcomed officers from the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s office, Altoona Police Department, Logan Township, state police, Attorney General’s office and the Penn State Altoona police, Francis said.

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Retired Altoona Police officers Chris Cohn, Earl Krug and Rich Fennessey catch up with each other prior to Thursday's appreciation dinner at Juniata VFW Post 8685.

In total, the VFW prepared 70 meals for Thursday’s event.

Throughout the years, Francis said there have been a couple officers who have never missed a dinner.

Former state Trooper Dennie Roland, 81, said he only missed one throughout the event’s history.

When asked why he continues to show up for the event, he said it’s a “great honor for these people.”

“If they see it clear to honor us, it’s incumbent upon me to show up,” he added.

He said the dinner brings officers from across the city together.

Ron Heller, 76, former Logan Township police chief, keeps coming to the event to catch up with area officers.

“You get to see old friends I normally don’t get to see anymore,” he said, having retired from the force in 2015.

Three newcomers to the Sheriff’s Office — Olivia Urbanek, John Daversa and Bailey Kudlawiec — came to the dinner to get to know fellow officers across the region.

Daversa said the event “builds a relationship between the departments and allows people to get to know one another. That comradery is hard to find.”

“If you ever need help, you can always rely on someone you met here or out in the field,” Kudlawiec added.

Continuing traditions

Francis was 15 when she began helping her father, Juniata VFW state commander Lowell Norris, at the first recognition dinner.

In the beginning, he told Francis he wanted “to honor the police” with a dinner event, adding that “nobody honors the police.”

“And that’s what we’ve been doing for the past 55 years,” she said.

On his deathbed in 1978, Norris asked Francis to continue hosting the dinner event. Over time, her mother and sister both passed away, leaving Francis to carry the torch.

“A lot of people who have helped me have died,” she said, but those who can assist have lent her a helping hand.

The VFW has been holding the dinner on the first Thursday in November, sticking to a longtime tradition.

When Francis announced at Thursday’s event that she planned to stop organizing the dinner due to life changes, many officers said they wanted the dinner to continue and offered their assistance in any way Francis needed.

Due to the overwhelming support, Francis said she would continue to plan the annual gathering with the help of the VFW and the willing law enforcement officers.

“Through the many years, I’m so thankful for the years of the help that I’ve had and have been blessed with,” she said.

Honoring officers

Francis said the Juniata VFW is the only place in the state that has put on a police recognition dinner for 55 years.

Honoring police officers with a dinner is an “unheard thing,” Sam McClure, 57, said, “so that turned it into a tradition.” McClure started coming to these dinner events when he was a new recruit at the Altoona Police Department. Thirty-three years later, he still takes his seat at the table.

“Our job is not a special thing,” he said. “They honor us for coming out and doing what we do for the public.”

Meals have been used throughout history to bring people together, Lieutenant Kermit Alwine, 39, of the Sheriff’s Office said. “Coming together over a hot meal has been the cornerstone of our civilization, and this embodies that same level.”

With a meal at the police recognition dinner, he said it’s important that officers get together and “have a level of humanity and unanimity.”

Retired Altoona officer Mary Hogan said she likes to hear stories from other officers, adding that they lose members every year.

“In the climate that we have today, the law enforcement is not respected at all,” she said. “If you can, come together as a family and pass that onto the younger generation that might not have that family relationship.”

This event “builds a family,” she said.

While the police recognition dinner only happens once a year, many officers feel thankful simply for the event’s existence.

“People don’t realize how dangerous this job can be,” Heller said. “They support us, they do this for us, I just think it’s a great thing.”

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.