Ronald D. Mapes Sr.

Ronald D. Mapes, Sr. of Concord, NH died 4 November 2026 at the VNA Granite Hospice House Concord, NH. He was born in Biddeford, Maine at the Trull Hospital on November 29, 1939. He was the youngest son of George & Beryl Mapes of Saco, Maine, His Dad, George E. Mapes was a former City Marshal of Saco, Maine. He leaves behind his wife Barbara R. Mapes, Ronald D. Mapes, Jr., Felicia M. Mapes, Garett P. Mapes, Victoria L. McGarvey of Missouri, Daniel C. Johnson of Maine.

When Ron was growing up. Ron always said that his Dad was his Cop Hero and that when he grew up he wanted to be a Cop like his Dad. Ron graduated from Thornton Academy, Saco, Maine in June 1958. He played football and other sports at Thornton Academy earning his “T sweater and letter” in football. Ron also owned his own riding horse name Queen and entered horse shows held by the Saco Valley Riding Club. On the good days in the summer he would ride for hours.

After graduation from Thornton Academy in June 1958 he went into the United States Air Force in August 1958 where he did his Boot Camp training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. After his Boot Camp training he was assigned to Lincoln Air Force Base SAC, in Lincoln, Nebraska. After his tour with the United States Air Force was done he returned home to Saco, Maine. Ron worked for Richfield Oil in Saco and drove truck doing oil deliveries. He also was a part time Police Officer for Saco Police.

In 1962 Ron moved to Concord, NH where he became a full time police officer for the City of Concord, NH and did his police training for Concord P.D. at the New Hampshire State Police Academy. During his time with Concord P.D. he met his wife to be Barbara Jean Robbins from Concord, NH. They were married in December 1963. While working for Concord Ron was offered a job with the Franklin, NH Police Department and they moved to Franklin with their first child Ronald D. Mapes, Jr..

While working for Franklin P.D. Ron met a Chief from North Kingstown, Rhode Island who was a good friend of the Chief in Franklin. The Chief from Rhode Island offered Ron a job with the North Kingstown P.D. if he ever decided he would like to move to Rhode Island. In August of 1965 Ron made the move to Rhode Island to work for a much larger police department and a much faster pace of police work. He attended the Providence Police Academy who trained all the Officers at that time who would be working in the state of Rhode Island. Ron shot “Expert” on the firing range with North Kingstown Police and was awarded the “Expert award bar”.

On January 7th, 1971 about 10:30 PM while working an evening patrol Ron was struck broadside in his cruiser drivers door by a drunk driver and it was a near fatal cruiser accident. His body was thrown around inside the cruiser like a ball and then ejected out through the passenger door and into the deep cold snow about twenty feet from the cruiser. Ron somehow escaped being killed and was laid up for awhile on rehabilitation. Ron returned to his patrol duties with some pain still hanging on.

On July 3, 1973 at approximately 11:30PM Ron was sent on a call to find someone shooting a gun in the old Wickford U.S. Navy Housing area. Ron responded to the area with a police patrol partner. The shooter fired at the officers hitting the cruiser windshield and hood. Ron exited from the cruiser and returned fire and told the shooter to drop his weapon which he did. Ron’s partner covered him while Ron went after the shooter. The shooter jumped for his weapon and after a short fight Ron subdued the subject and handcuffed him. Backup arrived and the shooter was taken into custody and locked up. Neither Ron or his partner were injured. At a later date Ron received a “Commendation for Bravery/Valor”. Ron served the public and patrolled the areas of North Kingstown for almost 10 years.

Ron continued to have medical problems and after affects from his near fatal cruiser accident and other on the job injuries for quite some time and needed medical treatment from Doctors at Kent County Memorial Hospital in Warwick, R.I.. In late 1974 Ron was having continuing medical problems and was advised by his doctor that maybe it was time he left the law enforcement field and took a rest and let the injuries to his body and long hours a chance to heal up. At this point Ron turned in his letter to leave the department and moved back to his home town of Saco. Ron had time left on his GI. Bill from serving in the United States Air Force. Ron applied to attend the Maine Medical Center Operating Room Technicians School in Portland, Maine. Ron was accepted by the Maine Medical Center School of Operating Room Technicians. He graduated from the ORT School and scrubbed in various surgical cases including Open Heart and numerous other surgical cases. He worked at the Maine Medical Center and the Maine Osteopathic Hospital in Portland, Maine. He also worked in surgery at the Southern Maine Medical in Biddeford, Maine.

After about 5 years Ron began to have skin problems with the various scrubbing solutions and Latex Gloves causing some painful rash reactions and could not scrub anymore. It was at this time that Ron decided that he wanted to go back into Law Enforcement. In August 1980 he applied for work with the United States Government Department Of Veterans Affairs Federal Police Officers Service and trained at their Police Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas. After graduating from the DVAP Academy he went to work at the DVAMC in Manchester, New Hampshire. Ron worked his way up to senior police officer after 12 years.

In August 1991 Ron was chosen to attend the DVAP Chiefs Seminar in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s there were several DVA Police Officers murdered while patrolling DVAMC property. At that time the DVA Police were not armed and could not defend themselves. Ron started writing several letters that went to the DVAMC and DVAP Directors Office in Washington, D.C. and other letters to the President of the United States and several political people, Senators and Congressmen, in Washington about what was happening and that the DVA Police had to be trained and armed as soon as possible. This started a lot of action with influential Political Figures in Washington, D.C. with those that could help the DVA Police get armed. Ron got called into the Directors office for the letter writing but Ron did not stop the fight and had the support of the DVAMC Union and the Fraternal Order Of Police the largest police organization in the United States.

Shortly after Ron had to retire on disability things started to change with DVA Police Service and new leadership came in. One person that was brought in to take over the Director position with the DVAP was a former retired Secret Service Agent for President George Bush. This was the beginning of the DVA Police getting trained and armed along with a new Police Academy set up.

In September 1992 Ron’s Doctor found he had cancer in his large bowel and had to be operated on and they removed the entire right half of his large bowel. In October 1992 Ron returned to work with the Police Service but still suffered from old injuries from Rhode Island. He developed cervical spine problems and had to be operated on where they fused his cervical spine. He had three cervical spine surgeries and at this point he had to retire from the DVAP Service after 14 years.

While working with the DVAP Ron received several awards for excellent police performance. During Ron’s police career years he also served 22 years with the United States Army Ready Reserves and was attached to the 351st General Hospital Unit, 1,000 Bed Combat Support Hospital Unit out of Hanscom Air Force Base and Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Ron retired from the United States Army Ready Reserves as a Sgt. First Class and was the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the Operating Room Unit. During his 22 years he received several awards for excellent performance of duty and also was “awarded the Expert Medal with the M-16 rifle and 45 caliber pistol”. All the years that Ron was in Law Enforcement he worked a second job in Nursing Homes taking care of the Elderly who were no longer able to care for themselves. He also worked in Emergency Rooms assisting the Medical Staff who needed help. Ron had a hobby of collecting Police Badges, Police Uniform Patches, police uniforms from Europe, Bobby Helmets from England. He had over a thousand police patches, around 500 police badges from all over the world including the USA. Also Police uniform insignias from all over the world. He was President of Federal Police Lodge 1FNH – Fraternal Order Of Police out of Nashville, Tennessee. The Fraternal Order Of Police is the largest police organization in the country.

Ron request in lieu of flowers any Memorial donations in memory of Ron may be offered to the “Concord Patrolman’s Association” or to a Charity of their choice.