A Trini wife’s grief

"He was thoughtful, caring, ambitious and resilient," she told more than 1,700 mourners filling New Life Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn on Tuesday. "He was a husband who was mindful and considerate."

She tried to speak of him as a father and provider, the Long Island Newsday reported yesterday.

"As a last passion," the widow said, her voice cracking, "he built with his own hands a wonderful home."

She paused and struggled for composure. But her next words dissolved in sobs. A man in the congregation rose and helped her toward the steps to descend from the platform, and family members led her to her seat in the front pew.

She bent forward, crying. The man seated beside her placed a hand gently on her back.

Outside the church, along Avenue D in East Flatbush, stood an estimated 20,000 police officers from across the country and hundreds of onlookers, all bidding farewell to Dillon Stewart, 35, who was shot dead on November 28 — the first city police officer slain while on duty this year.

Following Leslyn Stewart to the microphone was Sheryl Campbell-Julien, the officer’s sister, who teased bittersweet smiles with a story about coming to her little brother’s defence in neighbourhood scuffles.

"During childhood, I fought all his battles," she said. "At one point, I didn’t know he could fight."

Campbell-Julien recalled how she used to eavesdrop on her brother’s telephone conversations if she knew he was planning a night of fun.

"Wherever the party was that he was in, there I was," she said.

Other relatives paid tribute, too. Standing just behind the flag-draped coffin, his young niece Shadae Boakye-Yiadom, read Psalm 100. His mother, Winifred Flemming, recited Psalm 27, saying it was the last scripture she read to her son.

Cousin Odette Flemming read Stewart’s obituary and added, "Dillon is one of those shining stars that blessed our planet."

Jamaica-born Stewart grew up in Brooklyn. He worked as an accountant for WNYC radio before he joined the Police Department at age 30. He worked for five years at the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn. During his tenure as a policeman, he met his Trinidadian wife.

"I’m not upset he became a police officer," his sister told the congregation. "That’s what he wanted. That’s what he loved."