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| Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
This morning I attended the funeral service for Richard Clemens, the former Massachusetts State Trooper who posed as the cop in Norman Rockwell's 1958 painting, The Runaway. It was a touching ceremony, with full honors being provided by law enforcement officers from Massachusetts and New York State, where Clemens served for many years. Ed Locke, who posed as the young boy in Rockwell's painting, was there, as was current Stockbridge Police Chief Richard Wilcox. Chief Wilcox is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet−if Norman Rockwell were painting his scene today, this man would be a perfect model for the helpful cop.
At the end of the service, I walked out to find a framed print of The Runaway, signed by Mr. Clemens. It was a nice touch, and after hearing the priest's words, I thought again that he was the perfect model for this iconic work.
It has been a busy week. There has been a lot of interest in Mr. Clemens' story, and I was interviewed by several newspapers, as well as YNN News in Albany (my friend, reporter Brandon Walker, even used some of my 2004 interview with the models in the TV segment).
Here is another excerpt from that archival video, where Clemens talks about how much of an inspiration the Rockwell painting has been for law enforcement officers over the years:
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