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Hundreds mourn fallen sergeant as father, friend

Charles Calhoun, a longtime veteran of the Sheriff's Office, died unexpectedly in his sleep.

NEW PORT RICHEY - They came by the hundreds on Thursday, many of them wearing uniforms, guns and badges. They came to honor a fellow officer and friend, Sgt. Charles Calhoun, who died unexpectedly in his sleep last weekend.

But a young woman sitting in the front of the church, Jill Bowser, wanted everyone to know that Calhoun was much more than a dedicated cop. He was a beloved father, grandfather, husband and friend.

She wrote her thoughts, which a family friend read during the funeral service at King of Glory Lutheran Church in New Port Richey on Thursday morning.

"To me, he was just dad," she wrote.

She told about the father who scared away the monsters hiding in closets and under beds. She told why Calhoun, 52, worked so hard - to make her life easier and better than his had been.

"If he could have, he would have given me the moon," she wrote.

Bowser's letter was among the first words spoken on a mournful morning to honor Calhoun, who began his law enforcement career in New Jersey more than 30 years ago. He worked 12 years for the Brielle, N.J., police department before moving his family to Florida in the early 1980s.

He had worked for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office for almost 19 years, eventually becoming a sergeant in charge of the major crimes unit. His wife, Ellie, is a victim advocate for the Sheriff's Office.

She and Calhoun had stopped in Tupelo, Miss., while traveling to Arkansas for a family reunion when Calhoun stopped breathing on Saturday night.

Hundreds of sheriff's deputies, local police officers and state law enforcement officers attended Thursday's service, and later watched as Calhoun's casket, draped in an American flag, was rolled outside and into a shiny black hearse.

Police officers stopped traffic along U.S. 19 as the procession headed to Dobies Funeral Home in New Port Richey.

There, everyone was quiet as ceremonial gunfire sounded to honor Calhoun. Then, a female voice came over a loud speaker, and traffic on police scanners quieted.

The female dispatcher called Calhoun's signal three times: 3110.

Silence.

The woman said that 3110 would be greatly missed.

She said that 3110 would be remembered always.

"May God bless 3110," she said.

Calhoun's detectives bowed their heads and wept.