Las Vegas says thank you, goodbye to strong leader

Friday, June 26, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

As the casket carrying former Sheriff John Moran was carried down the aisle at St. John The Baptist Greek Orthodox Church following Thursday's services, his widow, Goldie, kept her right hand firmly planted on it.

Some of the more than 1,000 mourners attending the funeral found that quite fitting, noting that the image most in their minds -- other than Moran working to rid the local streets of criminals -- was of the tall and athletic law-enforcement giant walking hand-in-hand with his diminutive wife of more than half a century.

"Goldie, John loved you with a devotion that was so pure in its intensity I wondered how one man could be so consumed with one woman," former Undersheriff Eric Cooper said during the eulogy, fighting back tears. "You were his rock."

Moran, whose progressive leadership was credited with whipping into shape the local police force and significantly reducing crime in Las Vegas, died Monday at Sunrise Hospital following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 75.

On Thursday, the six Metro Police deputy chiefs -- Paul Conner, Kyle Edwards, Dave Swiekert, Dick McKee, Tom Hawkins and Mike Zagorski -- served as pallbearers as local police officials and community leaders gathered to say goodbye. Many stood against walls in the church, which was filled well beyond capacity.

Sandwiched between the couple's two sons, John Jr. and Rick, Goldie Moran cradled in her left arm the crisply folded U.S. flag that had draped his coffin.

A color guard of officers from every Southern Nevada police force was led by a kilt-clad bagpiper playing a dirge. Metro officers wore strips of black tape across their badges, mourning a man who became a local law-enforcement officer in 1948 and was sheriff from 1982 to 1994.

"John was the right person at the right time," Cooper said in a brief but moving eulogy during the hourlong service.

Cooper, Moran's longtime right-hand man who retired on the same day as his boss -- Dec. 31, 1994 -- said Moran's no-nonsense approach to law enforcement helped rid the streets of prostitutes, reduced major crime and inspired a "lethargic" department.

"He hit us like a Marine at Iwo Jima."

Moran indeed was a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima. Also during World War II, he earned a battlefield commission to lieutenant and left the service with the rank of captain.

After the war, he married Goldie (nee Shetakis) and the couple moved to Las Vegas in 1947.

"He led such an exciting and full life," Cooper said, noting that while Moran boasted that he was the boss in his home, it was Goldie who in reality ruled the roost.

Cooper recalled how Moran, in an effort to surprise his wife, traded in her pride-and-joy 1957 Ford Thunderbird for a then-new 1961 T-Bird and, as a result, faced the full brunt of her ire.

"He always consulted her on car purchases after that," Cooper said as he and the crowd chuckled.

But when Cooper tried to talk about Moran's battle with cancer, his voice cracked and tears welled up in his eyes and in the eyes of many throughout the crowd.

"He fought his battle with courage and strength that were the hallmark of his life, but he lost," Cooper said.

Among his many accomplishments as sheriff, Moran started the local police academy, helicopter program, major case squad, 911 system, search-and-rescue unit, bike patrol, gang diversion unit, Secret Witness and DARE.

Dignitaries at the funeral included Sheriff Jerry Keller, former Las Vegas Mayor Ron Lurie, former two-term Nevada Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, Justice of the Peace Bill Jansen, Sun Publisher Barbara Greenspun, Sun Editor Brian Greenspun, Las Vegas City Councilman and Metro Officer Michael McDonald and former Sheriff Ralph Lamb.

After the funeral, a mile-long procession of patrol cars -- their blue and red lights flashing -- and civilian automobiles led by a police motorcycle escort crossed the valley from the church on El Camino Road in southwest Clark County for graveside services at Palm Valley View Memorial Park on South Eastern Avenue.

Moran's family has asked that donations be made in his memory to the Police Protective Association and the Injured Police Officers Fund.