Thomas Craig Young
May 12, 1964 - January 11, 2015
On Saturday
January 24, 2015, members of the Santa Cruz Police Department said goodbye to
one of our own. Officer Tom Young was
laid to rest after a memorial service attended by hundreds of guests, which
included Officer Young’s family, members of the Santa Cruz Police Department,
members of law enforcement agencies and fire departments from across our
county, as well as members of our community.
It was a fitting tribute to Tom, who will always be remembered as one of
Santa Cruz’s finest.
The morning
began with a procession, including marked emergency vehicles, from Santa Cruz
Memorial to the Recital Hall at UCSC, which had over 400 guests present. The memorial service was officiated by the
Reverend Richard Rice of the Messiah Lutheran Church in Santa Cruz. Remembrances and reflections of Tom were
delivered by Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel, Tom’s brother-in-law Ben
Matheny, Santa Cruz Police Officer Trevor Kendall and Capitola Police Chief
Rudy Escalante. The Santa Cruz Police
Department Honor Guard posted the colors at the onset of the service and retired
them at the conclusion. There was a flag
ceremony in which Tom’s wife Julie received a folded American Flag from Chief
Vogel, as well as a heart-wrenching last radio call tribute to Tom that was broadcast at the service by our dispatch center, Santa Cruz Regional 911. The ceremony concluded with
Officer Pat Bayani playing Taps on his trumpet.
The Santa
Cruz Police Department would like to thank all who attended the
memorial service to honor Tom Young’s life and his service to our community. We would like to thank the Santa Cruz Fire
Department for the static display of the American Flag from their two ladder trucks at the
west entrance to the UCSC campus on Saturday morning. We would like to extend our sincere
gratitude and appreciation to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, the
California Highway Patrol and the UCSC Police Department for keeping Santa Cruz
safe by providing police services to our community on Saturday so that every
member of the Santa Cruz Police Department could attend the memorial service
for Tom. Our thanks goes out to Santa Cruz Memorial and Randy Krassow for making sure the arrangements for Tom were handled perfectly. Lastly, our thanks goes out to Alison Lucas and her staff at the UCSC Arts Division Dean's Office for their generous contribution and assistance with the venue where the memorial service for Tom was held, The Recital Hall at UCSC.
As Chief Vogel said when he concluded his
remarks at the memorial service, “We know you are safe. We love you, we will miss you and we
will never forget. May God bless you and
may you rest in peace.”
