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| This Texas Highway Patrol Car was parked in front of White Family Funeral Home in Bowie, Texas with a single wreath on the windshield. People started adding flowers and small flags to the back and sides of the Patrol Car as a tribute to Texas Highway Patrol Cpl. David Slaton. Cpl. Slaton's body was inside the funeral under the protective and respectful eyes of two Texas DPS State Troopers pending Funeral on Sept. 24, 2010 at First Baptist Church, Bowie. |
The above composite photo is a tribute to my friend, Highway Patrol Cpl David Slaton. Cpl. Slaton died Sept. 20, 2010 as he responded to a complaint of cows on the road on U.S. Highway 81. His shift was to end in one hour. He had talked to his wife on the phone about 20 minutes earlier and said, "If I don't get those cows off the road, someone is going to get killed." His Patrol car struck a cow which knocked the Patrol car into the path of an 118 wheeler on this narrow two lane highway. He was the friendliest guy I ever met, yet tough as nails when necessary. I was Chief of Police when he came to to Bowie as his first and only duty station after graduating from the DPS Academy. He met a girl, Lynetta Boudreaux, that was a Bowie Police Department Dispatcher. I had hired Lynetta not long before David came to Bowie. Love and marriage followed for David and Lynetta. David and Lynetta had one son, Bo who is a college student.
My wife took a number of photos of the Highway Patrol car parked in front of the Funeral Home with its' wreaths, flowers, and flags. It was a cloudy day. As we drove away from the funeral home, I spotted the Texas flag flying in the distance against a cloudy sky background. I asked my wife to stop and take a photo of it. This flag seemed to me to be a fitting tribute to a fallen Texas State Trooper. I added more clouds to the sky and made the above composite photograph as a tribute to my friend.
I Love you Lynetta, Bo and, LaVelle. I am sorry that I did not get to know David's parents.
