End of the ride ... on to a 'new life'

Photo: A.M. Sheehan

END OF THE RIDE — Sheriff's Office Cpl. Chancy Libby and his daughter, share photographs with Oxford County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Dane Tripp as friends and co-workers gather to bid an informal and heartfelt farewell Sunday at the Woodstock Fire Department in Bryant Pond. Tripp took a "retirement ride" through the county visiting all the towns he patrolled and protected during his 20-year tenure with the Sheriff's Office.

OXFORD COUNTY — Otisfield, Harrison, Waterford, Bethel, Andover, Mexico, Peru, Hartford, Sumner, West Paris, Woodstock and the list goes on – all towns Chief Deputy Dane Tripp, of the Oxford County Sheriff's Office, has served and protected over the past 32 years.

On Sunday he said farewell to them all. Tripp is retiring after serving first as a 12-year member of the Paris Police Department and then as a deputy for the past 20.

"I think I would like to 'die in the saddle'," said Tripp about retiring, "I have very mixed emotions ... sadness and a few regrets."

Tripp began Sunday morning at the Sheriff's Office with 43 motorcycles following him as he set off on a 137-mile retirement ride. Accompanied by Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association members and some friends, Tripp finished his ride about 3:45 p.m. at the Woodstock Fire Department for a cookout and intimate farewell party with those with whom he has worked closely throughout his career.

The event was organized by Oxford County Regional Communications Center dispatchers Terri Littlehale and Candice Jack.

"I am very humbled," said Tripp, "honored by this."

Tripp, hardly recognizable, tricked out in motorcycle gear, said he spent the ride reminiscing about changes in the various towns and villages throughout his career.

When asked why he is retiring now, he noted that he had reached as high as he could go in his career. "I'm not a politician," he explained, referring to the one job higher than his – that of the elected sheriff. "I've had a great career and met and worked with a lot of great people."

"Even the people I arrest I have a good rapport with," he chuckled. "Sometimes people I arrest have said it's the way I treated them. My grandfather once told me you make more friends by sayin' 'hi' than with a clenched fist ... ."

"We usually ride alone," he explained, "so it is easier to get on their good side ... and it often works better than wading in with a bunch of people [officers]."

"I remember this bonfire on an Otisfield beach," he laughs as he gets into the story, "There were 43 people there when I got there and by the time backup had arrived I had them all lined up giving me their licenses or ID cards so I could write them each a ticket. I wrote 43 tickets that night."

By the time back up had arrived it was an orderly scene. "One of the other guys told me 'it looked like George Patton with the troops," he laughed.

"Now I have another life to start living ... I think it's gonna be a good one."

Photo: Kayla Collins

EMOTIONAL — Chief Deputy Dane Tripp broke down during his farewell speech, overcome by emotion. Sheriff Wayne Gallant finished Tripp's speech for him Tuesday, during the county's farewell ceremonies at the courthouse in Paris.