GARDEN GROVE : Police Pay Tribute to 4 Who Died

Lori Rainford repeatedly wiped away tears as she listened to Sgt. Paul McInerny pay tribute to her husband, Michael, a Garden Grove police officer killed in 1980 while attempting to issue a ticket to a motorist he had stopped on a freeway.

“It gets to me every year,” Rainford, 29, said shortly after a one-hour memorial service on Thursday organized by the Police Department to honor the four city police officers who have died in the line of duty.

“The death of a law enforcement officer should never be expected, nor should it ever be accepted,” Police Chief John Robertson said to the crowd of more than 150 people. “Their sacrifices should never go unrecognized by the citizens they died to protect.”

At the time of her husband’s death, Lori Rainford was six months’ pregnant with the couple’s only child, Michael Rainford Jr.

Michael, now 10, accompanied his mother to the memorial and said afterwards that he plans to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a police officer. Although Rainford and her son will move from Orange County to Utah this summer, she said they plan to return to Garden Grove each year for the memorial.

“Michael is just really proud of his dad and he looks forward to this service every year,” she said. “He tells all his friends at school about it.”

Helen Reese Wharton choked back tears as she tried to explain what the memorial service meant to her. Her husband, Andy R. Reese, was killed in 1970 while directing traffic during the city’s annual Strawberry Festival Parade.

“This brings back sad memories,” Wharton said. “I’m just very appreciative that after all these years, they would choose to remember the officers in such a personal way.”

“You never forget,” said Rita Reed, 70, whose son, Donald, was shot to death in 1980 while trying to serve a felony arrest warrant to a suspect in a bar.

The slain officer’s father, Keith Reed, said he misses his son but is proud of the job he did.

“If I had another son who wanted to be a police officer, I’d encourage him all the way,” he said. “It’s a job that has to be done.”

Donald Reed died in the arms of Sgt. McInerny, who began organizing the annual memorial services in 1988.

“I feel it’s something I have to do,” McInerny said. “I’m sure (Reed’s death) is what drives me to do this. It certainly altered my life.”

Memorial plaques honoring Rainford, Reed, Reese and Myron L. Trapp, who was shot to death in 1959 while responding to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon, are at 11301 Acacia Parkway.