Coldest day of the year didn't matter; this was for Chris
The highways in and out of Pinckneyville were like large, white runways against the Monday morning sun. Extreme cold, Plows that cleared the snow, but never struck dry pavement all night long.
But, none of that mattered.
Friends came and they kept coming to pay their last respects to a 26-year-old Perry County deputy whose eternal optimism carried him through a six-year battle with brain cancer.
Outside, the sheriff's cars sat idling in the bitter cold as deputies waited patiently for the morning funeral mass at St. Bruno Catholic Church to come to a conclusion. One last time, officers filed past the casket at the front of this beautiful cathedral to quietly say their goodbyes,
Understandably, blizzard conditions made it tough to attend Sunday night's visitation, but any difficulties Monday were pushed aside.
This was for Chris.
At St. Bruno's Cemetery, Chris' squad car was parked nearby as the dispatcher's final call to "Sam 10" came over the radio at the cemetery, one last measure of respect and friendship. Dozens of law enforcement personnel lined the path to the gravesite with squad cars from nearly two dozen area agencies parked all around.
Christopher N. Harvey passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014 in Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis after an on-again, off-again battle with anaplastic oligoastrocytoma, a medical name for an unforgiving terminal brain cancer. Chris knew all this, but he lived life to the fullest despite it. At his side the whole time were fiancee Kathleen Kelley, her very gracious, eloquent and caring parents Tom and Chris Kelley, his daughter Kylie Harvey and other family members.
Everyone said the same thing. You couldn't help but love Chris.
Christopher was born on March 19, 1987 in Sparta, Ill., a son to Leslie Harvey-Daniels. He attended the police academy and worked as a deputy sheriff for the Perry County Sheriff's Department. Chris was a member of St. Bruno Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus of Pinckneyville.
Other survivors include his mother, Leslie Daniels and step-father, Shawn Daniels of Pinckneyville; two brothers, Nicholas Harvey of Du Quoin and Chad Harvey of Sparta; one sister, Danielle Miller of Pinckneyville; one nephew, Jacoby Perkins of Pinckneyville and maternal grandfather, Bruce Coffel of Pleasant View, Tenn.
Father Nick Junker officiated at the service. Interment followed in the St. Bruno Catholic Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society for brain cancer research or an education fund for Kylie Harvey. Both can be made through Pyatt Funeral Home, which was in charge of the arrangements.
Chris began his service to Perry County at the jail in 2007 and was promoted to deputy in 2010.
He had some medical issues with what is known as an anaplastic oligoastrocytoma, a brain specific tumor that spiders into the cellular network as it grows.
In October 2011 Chris experienced some seizures. After an MRI, the tumor was monitored for several months. Chris began experiencing numbness on the left side. Surgeries can help, but never get all of the tumor. In recent months he returned to his neurology and oncology doctors in St. Louis, who said last July the tumor has grown rapidly into a Stage 3 oligoastrocytoma. He took both chemotherapy injections and prescriptions to slow the tumor's growth, and he underwent physical therapy three or four times a week to recapture as much strength as possible.
A large poker run and benefit at the Knights of Columbus Hall raised over $30,000 last July to help defray the cost of growing medical bills.
He told the newspaper during some time together outside the K of C Hall. "I cannot believe everybody did this for ME!"
Sheriff Keith Kellerman said, "Everybody likes Chris. It's the truth."
Not being able to serve as a road deputy because of a developing paralysis never got him down. He began working as a dispatcher.
He was a quick-thinker and very responsible as he trafficked the department's calls to deputies.
Many on Monday remembered their daily concern for Chris.
"Are you doing okay? Anything you need? Anything we can do?"
He appreciated the friendships, but he didn't want to be babied, either.
Chris worked until the Thanksgiving holiday, but health problems began getting in the way.
Everyone says the same thing. Chris was a class act both personally and professionally--destined to do great things for law enforcement.
He died too early. The emptiness lingers. But at least on this day all of law enforcement showed how much Chris meant to them in the time they had together.