BANGOR, Maine — Bangor’s police station could soon carry the name of the first man to sit behind the chief’s desk there.
Former Police Chief Don Winslow died on July 10, about five months after announcing cancer had resurged in his lungs. He was 57.
During a meeting with city councilors Monday, Corenna O’Brien, a friend of the Winslow family, asked that the City Council consider naming the station after Winslow to honor his memory and recognize the effect his leadership had in the city and on its police department.
O’Brien also helped organize fundraisers to support the Winslows and planned a community flash mob for Winslow on the Bangor Waterfront a few weeks after he stopped chemotherapy treatments in order to enjoy what time he had left as much as possible.
Winslow was the department’s 27th chief, but the first to work in the department’s $8 million Summer Street station, which opened in 2006.
Several councilors voiced their support for O’Brien’s suggestion, and the city’s Government Operations Committee will discuss the naming at a meeting in November.
Councilor Jamie Gallant called the move a “fitting honor” and said he was “wholeheartedly in support.”
There is precedent in Bangor for naming public and municipal buildings after individuals — for example, the Mary Snow School is named after the city’s first female superintendent, and William S. Cohen School is named after the former Secretary of Defence and U.S. senator from Bangor.
Police Chief Mark Hathaway said he could envision a plaque on the building or just outside bearing the station’s new name, which has yet to be determined, but could be along the lines of the Donald J. Winslow Police Building.
In 2002, Winslow was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disease of the brain that affects movement, muscle control and balance, prompting him to speed up his retirement plans. He left the force in 2007, ending a nearly 28-year law enforcement career.
Three years after his retirement, Winslow was diagnosed with cancer in his head and neck. At the same time, his wife, Dora, was battling ovarian cancer. Early in 2012, cancer treatments showed results, and they both celebrated their NED status, meaning they showed “no evidence of disease.”
The cancer returned in early 2014, this time in his lungs. The news forced Winslow to withdraw from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s race, which he’d entered just a few weeks before receiving his diagnosis.
Hundreds of people from across the region attended fundraisers and other events to show support for the family in the wake of the new diagnosis.
“It’s very clear to me the impact he made on this community,” O’Brien told councilors.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213.