"Chip" Was Webster
Mike Chiapperini was born, raised, and lived in the Town of Webster. He raised his family in that town and he spent most of his life serving that community in his role as a volunteer firefighter and police officer.
"He was Webster," Galante said. "He was police, he was fire, I followed him through the ranks in the fire department and had the opportunity to work for him at the police department and he knew everything that was going on around town."
More than just friends knew him as "Chip" and most who encountered him remembered the dimpled smile he would flash often.
"He was just funny a funny, funny guy," Chief Pickering smiled. "To see his smile and that little dimple on his face, Oh My God we're going to miss him, we're going to miss him."
Chief Pickering spoke about how this week he visited a local coffee shop in town and the staff gushed about "Chip" and how he always used to come in and order a glass of milk.
"They said you know he was one of the only police officers to come in and ask for a glass of milk," Chief Pickering chuckled. "He didn't drink coffee, that's unusual for a police officer but Mike loved his glass of milk."
"He made work fun we wanted to come to work be around him, he had a way of making us feel like we were making important contributions to the overall cause," Investigator O'Dea said. "In this line of work we see a lot of things that are tragic or sad or very unfortunate so to have somebody around the office that made it fun to come to work even though we had difficult duties to do everyday, that was really special and we're going to miss that."
O'Dea remembers how years ago "Chip" used that sense of humor to help her adjust as the "new girl" in a "guy's world" when she first transferred to the Webster Police Department.
"I worked with him on the afternoon shift and he always had a very special way of helping me find my way, helping me find my niche helping me find acceptance within the department," O'Dea said.
"He affected so many people in so many positive ways," said Chief Pickering.
