Memorials › Bernell C. "Bernie" Shum

Bernell C. "Bernie" Shum

1 Jul 1926 – 22 Oct 2002

Birth1 Jul 1926
Death22 Oct 2002
CemeteryFort McPherson National Cemetery
Maxwell , Lincoln County , Nebraska , USA
Added byJim on 11 Jun 2009
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14996591

Bio

Son of Calvin Otto & Norma (McFarland) Shum. Married to: 1. Martha Jean Montgomery on 1-5-1952 at Wadsworth, KS. 2. Laura L. Blumer in Aug. 1976 at Midwest City, OK. WW II Veteran - US Navy - 6-23-1944/6-28-1946. From the Grand Island, NE. "Independent" Newspaper: Retired Grand Island police officer Bernell "Bernie" Shum, who died early Tuesday morning, is remembered by fellow officers as a department trainer and community activist. Capt. Pete Kortum said Shum, 76, of 1108 S. Greenwich Ave., died around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Francis Medical Center. Shum was involved in a traffic accident at Second and Walnut Streets Monday. Witnesses told officers Shum was slumped over in his 1988 Toyota pickup before it collided with a 1994 Ford pickup driven by Dale Gewecke, 52, of Hastings, Kortum said. The cause of death is believed to have been cardiac arrest, he said. Gewecke was not seriously injured in the accident. Kortum said he and Sgt. Kerry Cole both started with the Grand Island Police Department on Aug. 16, 1974, and were trained by Shum. Shum, who joined the department in 1955, taught officers about searches and seizures, report writing and city codes. He was also known for giving recruits the names of obscure city streets and telling them to find them, Kortum said. "Bernie'd crack a joke, but he realized you were the recruit and he was the lieutenant," Kortum said. Sgt. Kerry Mehlin said Shum was also a firearms trainer and they would practice at the firing range in the basement of old City Hall in the late 1970s. Shum also did training in the records division and did in-service training for the department, said Capt. Bill Holloway, who was also trained by Shum. Kortum said Shum was very involved with the community in civic organizations. He started the Grand Island/Hall County Crime Stoppers in 1982. As a joke during Shum's retirement ceremony in 1987, Kortum presented the older officer with a set of Mickey Mouse ears. "I said, 'There's one organization he doesn't belong to,' " Kortum said. "And then I gave him the ears and they played the Mickey Mouse Club song. Bernie just sat there shaking his head, with a big smile on his face of course." Shum worked for many of his 32 years with former police Chief Gene Watson, who was with the department from 1961 to 1998. "Bernie was one of the officers who helped shape the police department into the professional organization it is today," Watson said. "Grand Island was well served by Bernie Shum."

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