Fallen Game Warden Tribute Run
The Maine Warden Service recently hosted its 11th annual Fallen Game Warden Tribute Run, established to bring awareness to the 15 Maine game wardens who have died in the line of duty since the bureau was established in 1880. Braving wintry precipitation and temperatures just above freezing, nearly 30 runners began the morning Tribute Run at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro and made the 14-mile trek to the Fallen Officer Memorial in Augusta.
At each mile-marker, one fallen game warden was honored as a ribbon in their name was attached to a flag commemorating their sacrifice. The flag was carried the entire length of the run by alternating runners. Just after noon, the runners arrived in Augusta, where they were greeted by surviving family members and friends of the fallen game wardens.
Maine’s fallen Game Wardens are: Lyman O. Hill, 1839-1886; Charles W. Niles, 1886; Arthur G. Deag, 1901-1921; Leslie Robinson, 1901-1921; David F. Brown, 1870-1922; Mertley E. Johnson, 1901-1922; Lee H. Parker, 1877-1927; Jean Baptiste Jalbert, 1886-1933; Robert Lee Moore, 1889-1935; Randall E. Shelley, 1902-1946; George E. Townsend, 1919-1956; R. Lyle Frost, Jr., 1926-1968; Richard E. Varney, 1931-1972; William F. Hanrahan, 1943-1992; and Daryl R. Gordon, 1950-2011.