Community remembers police officer

HAMILTON, Ohio - A police officer who spent 29 years on the force and then another 21 years teaching kids in the community about safety has died at the age of 72.

Officer Robert Gentry, also known as "Officer Bob" died Saturday afternoon after leaving the final Safety Town for the season. Gentry helped start the program through the Greater Hamilton Safety Council (GHSC) immediately after retiring from the Hamilton Police Department.

"[Kids went] to the firehouse one day. A police cruiser comes down one day," said Director of the GHSC Kim Wentz. "Then Officer Gentry would bring his horse."

The Town was basically a program that taught children ages four and five how to be aware of their surroundings, how to get help if it was needed, and overall keeping safety first in their lives.  Gentry is said to have had an aura about him that the kids respected, loved, and played. According to Wentz, that is why Gentry was well loved by those in attendance.

"He had a way he remembered their names four and five years later," said Wentz.  

Now Officer Bob will be remembered on Tuesday evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.  His funeral will begin at 10 in the morning on Wednesday at the Princeton Pike Church of God.  

The police department displayed a collage of Gentry at its booth at the Butler County Fair.

"This is one way, I guess to everybody, that knows him to come out here and see some of the stuff over the years," said HPD officer Ryan Beckelhymer.  "There's so much to him that you'll never see it all, because everything he did, all the different people, I mean… you just can't put it into words."