Almost a year later, remembering the regimental funeral of Const. David Wynn is enough to bring tears to my eyes.
There’s no question in my mind that the defining news story of 2015 in St. Albert was the January shooting at the Apex Casino that left Wynn fatally wounded and Auxiliary Const. Derek Bond injured.
I had the privilege of attending the regimental funeral held to celebrate Wynn’s life for the Gazette.
It hurts the heart when a good person’s life is cut short in any capacity. It’s something faced all too often when you’re a reporter.
You try to not get too emotionally involved, or at least not to show it. But it takes a better poker player than I am to make it through a funeral like that without shedding some tears.
It was always going to be a heart-rending ceremony. While waiting for it to start, journalists were told about the significance of the music that would play during a photomontage. The songs were his wedding song, My Valentine, and Blackbird, a song Wynn had been teaching his son Matthew on the guitar, a song Matthew played at his father’s bedside over and over again in the hospital.
I was ready to start crying then, and the ceremony hadn’t even started yet.
The event itself was astonishing. Thousands turned out to celebrate the life of the constable from the Maritimes who’d served as a school resource officer and had, prior to joining the RCMP, been a paramedic.
The sight of hundreds of red serge-clad Mounties, not to mention the other emergency service groups that came out to honour Wynn, pouring into the room was unlike anything else I’ve ever witnessed. They packed an arena in Servus Place, along with family and political representatives from all levels of government, right up to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
But what really stuck with me were the stories of Wynn, of the love and passion he gave to his family, his job and his adored Red Rose tea. He was a prankster, a fly-fisher and, according to his sister, “the best dad ever.”
His family and colleagues painted a clear picture of the kind of man Wynn was for all those watching, in person and the live footage.
“David would want us to forgive, he was a peaceful man,” said his sister Mona. “David would want us to find joy … David would want us to follow our hearts.”
Insp. Kevin Murray, the now-former commanding officer of the St. Albert RCMP detachment, told a story about Wynn negotiating with striking grocery store workers to get access to the tea stock. It’s the one I mention when the topic of the funeral comes up to this day.
But Murray also called Wynn the “consummate community police officer,” describing a “bright, committed, tenacious” man.
It wasn’t just the terrible series of events that led to the funeral that make this the most memorable story I covered in 2015.
In part, it was the outpouring of support from the community. It was the sight of those hundreds of Mounties mourning one of their own. It was watching Wynn’s wife and sons grieve, and letting us all grieve with them.
Ultimately though, it was learning about the person David Wynn was, and the lessons it was apparent we could all from him about living a life filled with love, that will remain with me always.
