Two Virginia State troopers who lost their lives in car accidents while on duty in York County more than 40 years ago will be honored this summer with signs naming a bridge after each of them.
Trooper Donald Edward Lovelace and Trooper Garland Matthew Miller were “real gentlemen,” according to retired Virginia Superintendent of State Police William Corvello, who worked with the fallen troopers and spearheaded the initiative to name two bridges in York County after them.
Beginning July 1, the Hampton Highway bridge that crosses Route 17 in Tabb will be known as the Trooper Donald E. Lovelace Memorial Bridge, while the Barlow Road overpass that crosses Interstate 64 in Upper York County will be known as the Trooper Garland Matthew Miller Memorial Bridge.
Official dedication ceremonies are planned for later this summer. The name changes were made official last month when Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed them into law.
Corvello said honoring the fallen troopers has been on his mind for a while. He worked as a trooper with Miller in 1957 and with Lovelace in 1970. He went on after his retirement from the state police to become the chief of police in Newport News.
Miller, a Rileyville native, served as a military police officer in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956 before receiving an honorable discharge and becoming employed by the Virginia State Police in 1956. His first patrol assignment as a new trooper was in Williamsburg.
He was in the hospital suffering from a serious back injury he received while in a car crash when Corvello, who had transferred to Williamsburg from Isle of Wight County, met him.
“He was highly thought of by the public, by the people that he came into contact with,” Corvello said. “He was a perfect gentleman, always had a smile when he walked into the room, always in a pleasant mood.”
Their relationship ended June 13, 1963, when Miller was involved in a fatal accident with a car that had pulled up in front of him.
A few years later, when Corvello was a sergeant for the Virginia State Police, he met Lovelace, who was stationed in Williamsburg six months after graduating from the police academy.
“He was a good, straightforward man,” Corvello said, describing him as a “tall fella” who was easy to get along with.
Lovelace, originally from Shelby, NC, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1963 to 1967 before going to work for the state police.
He was driving south on Route 17 in York County on Oct. 18, 1970, during the start of his midnight shift when he pulled a car over, Corvello said.
When he stepped out of his patrol car and approached the vehicle, another car drove by and hit him, killing him instantly.
Corvello investigated the circumstances of Lovelace’s death and had to deliver the news to Lovelace’s wife and three children at their home. He said it was “one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.”
He decided to approach legislators with the idea to memorialize his friends before the 2015 legislative session.
“I just think it was the right thing to do,” he said.
State Sen. Tommy Norment (R-3) took the two proposed bills to the General Assembly after getting support from James City County Police Chief Bradley Rinehimer, Fifth Division Virginia State Police Commander Capt. Robert Chappell Jr. and Executive Director of the Virginia State Police Association Wayne Huggins.
“The distinguished men and women of our law enforcement work tirelessly and sometimes give the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our Commonwealth and I am humbled to do a small part in honoring them,” Norment said in a Jan. 28 Facebook post.
The 4-foot-by-6-foot brown and white memorial signs will cost about $2,000 each, with the costs covered by York County.
“These state troopers, they are our first line of defense with respect to our citizens,” York County Supervisor Walt Zaremba said at a board meeting Tuesday, adding he was happy the General Assembly and the county “have woken up” and found a way to commemorate Lovelace and Miller.
Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the Virginia State Police superintendent, shared Norment and Zaremba’s sentiments.
“As a Department, we never will forget their sacrifice whether their death occurred last year or eighty-five years ago,” he said. “So to have these memorials dedicated to honor Trooper Miller and Trooper Lovelace ensures the citizens and the Commonwealth won’t forget them either, that their lives are memorialized for future generations who travel the bridges, and hopefully brings some small measure of comfort to the family members who’ve had to endure their lives without them.”
