Gov. Kelly orders flags flown half-staff to honor Kansas police chief who died of COVID
A Kansas police chief who died of COVID-19 will be honored with flags flown at half-staff.
Gov. Laura Kelly issued the directive on Tuesday, ordering flags lowered to half-staff in Leon on Friday until sunset to honor Leon Police Chief Jerry Farthing.
“Wow. I’m just floored,” his wife, Anita Farthing, said when an Eagle reporter told her the news. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“I remember him telling me one time ‘you can just have a graveside service because nobody will be there,”’ she said. “I told him you have more friends than anyone I know.”
The 63-year-old police chief and volunteer firefighter died Jan. 15 after more than a month of battling COVID-19. The governor’s policy for lowering flags statewide includes honoring the sacrifices of first responders and their families when one dies in the line of duty.
“Chief Jerry Farthing served the people of Leon and Butler County well both as the leader of the Leon Police Department and as a volunteer firefighter in Cassoday,” Kelly said in a statement. “He was a dedicated public servant and deeply involved in his community. I offer my condolences to Chief Farthing’s friends and family, and the Leon community, during this difficult time. He will be missed.”
It was not clear if Farthing’s death is considered by the governor’s office to be in the line of duty. His wife says it was not.
There have been 3,622 coronavirus deaths statewide with 55 in Butler County, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported on Monday. Most of Butler County’s deaths were recorded in the past six weeks, as the county had 17 total on Dec. 16, when the KDHE first reported county COVID-19 death statistics to the public.
Anita Farthing previously told The Eagle that she believes her husband would still be alive if he had worn a mask. He and his coworkers at another job didn’t wear masks at the start of December, and they all came down with symptoms of the coronavirus disease. Butler County leaders have opted out of the governor’s mask order.
“I don’t know how many times he told me he regretted it,” she said, crying. “We’ve watched all of our parents die. And this was 10 times worse than that. It’s COVID. You don’t know. Every person is different and you don’t know who it is going to be bad for.”
A GoFundMe that was started to help pay for the funeral and headstone has raised about 40% of its goal. Anita Farthing hopes to put his badges for fire rescue, first responder and police chief on the headstone. She also wants to add the U.S. Army emblem for the veteran.
“It’s gonna be awesome,” she said.
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Gov. Kelly orders flags flown half-staff to honor Kansas police chief who died of COVID."