Set in Stone
Lloyd Aragon memorial to be dedicated Dec. 12

Hugh Sheldrick dusts off the marker that will be placed on the site where New Mexico State Police Officer Lloyd Aragon Sr. was killed in August 2001. Sheldrick said he has the GPS coordinates of the exact location in the median on I-40 just west of the Los Lunas exit where Aragon was killed and will place the stone there. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — An etching of Badge No. 202 of the New Mexico State Police is only part of a monument honoring Officer Lloyd Aragon.

The monument will be laid into a concrete frame in the middle of the Interstate 40 median the afternoon of Dec. 12.

Aragon, a former Grants Police Department officer, died Aug. 1, 2001, when Zacariah Craig ran him down while he and NMSP Officer Billy Cunningham stood in the middle of the freeway median after placing stop spike strips.

Judge Louis P. McDonald of the 13th Judicial District sentenced Craig on Sept. 1 to a net of 20 years in prison for the 2nd-degree murder of Aragon, two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle and shoplifting.

The engraved stone, which will lie flat, was designed by Aragon's mother, Veroniza Aragon, of rural Grants and fabricated without charge by Hugh Sheldrick of Lasting Memories Monuments in Milan. In addition to his badge number, it will feature his profile and that of his beloved partner, K-9 narcotics-detecting dog Barry, plus an image of his police purple heart presented Aug. 1, 2002, by Chief Frank R. Taylor.

Ray Savedra, volunteering as the site manager, said a New Mexico State Police honor guard and the local American Legion Riders, who are U.S. military veterans on motorcycles, will provide the escort. Aragon's mother and the stone will leave Milan starting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Sheldrick added, to go to the placement site near I-40's junction with State Hwy. 6.

Began with city
Aragon had worked his way up through the ranks in the city police department, starting as a dog catcher, before donning his black state police uniform on Jan. 15, 1994. He was also in the National Guard.

In an interview, his mother indicated she was very touched by the donation.

She said of her oldest son being honored, "I would like to thank Hugh from the bottom of my heart," not only for herself, but also for Lloyd's brothers Gilbert and Matthew Aragon, his sister Melinda and Lloyd's son and daughter, Lloyd Jr. and Adriana.

"I have wanted it so bad for so long, but couldn't afford it," Mrs. Aragon said.

Sheldrick added, "I am just trying to do something for him," as he knew and liked the officer, who was only 37 when he was killed instantly by the speeding vehicle's impact.

As a former police officer and military veteran, the monument maker added, "I know what it feels like to have one of our guys go down."

The monument will give Aragon's mother a physical remembrance of her first child. One of her last memories of him was on his last Father's Day, less than two months before he was killed.

"He was happy and danced under the trees, just having a good time, him and Gilbert and Matthew. And I went hunting with them, too, but never killed anything," she said. "There were a lot of good times with my son, a lot more than the bad times."

Still waits for him
Mrs. Aragon, noted however, "I still wait for him."

She said that when she moved to Grants from Las Vegas, N.M., where Lloyd was born, and he started classes about 1970 at Mesa View Elementary School, "he spoke only two words of English, "hello" and "good-bye."

He was the type of person that if there was only one Coca Cola left in the refrigerator she would tell him to go ahead and drink it. "He would leave it for the others, even if I told him 'go ahead.' He'd say, 'No mom. That's OK. I can wait.' "

In her lamentations she said, "I wish this never would have happened. It messed up my whole life and my family's whole life." Especially so, she indicated, because he was planning toward his retirement.

"His wish was to buy a Harley (-Davidson motorcycle) and never shave again. And to put a swing on the porch. But he'll never get to do that; he'll never get to do that," she said sadly.

To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).