Rockwell Icon Began Career in Arlington

The Massachusetts state trooper who posed for a painting that hangs in police departments across the country began his law enforcement career in Arlington.

Richard J. Clemens, 83, of Clifton Park, N.Y., died this week. He was 29 when he posed for Norman Rockwell's "The Runaway," a painting that shows an officer and a young boy at a diner.

Clemens was a New York native who served in the U.S. Marines before beginning his law enforcement career. He served as an Arlington County police officer from July 14, 1952, to Aug. 29, 1953.

He lived in the 2600 block of South Glebe Road, according to the department.

"He was an iconic figure for the entire law enforcement community. It's a testament to the quality of officers we hire and are represented in our department," police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said.

"It really tells a story of just seeing what an officer is, and what he means to the community."

Clemens went on to realize his dream of becoming a Massachusetts state trooper. He ended up living three doors down from Rockwell in Stockbridge, Mass.

The two got to know each other because Rockwell's dog, a basset hound, regularly found its way into Clemens' yard, according to Sternbeck. Clemens would walk the pet home, and while chatting with the artist once mentioned his profession.

“The painting of a trooper bending over in counsel to a young boy intent on leaving home captures — much more than any of the images of shootouts and car chases favored by popular culture — the highest ideal of police work: helping someone in need at a vulnerable moment,’’ Marian McGovern, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, told the Boston Globe.

One of Rockwell's daughters, Mary Blaauboer, told Community News in Saratoga County, N.Y., this week that the painting captured her father as he really was.

“Rockwell painted a world he liked to see, but in this case, my dad was that trooper,” she told the publication. “Whether it was playing with kids in a pool or saving someone from a fire or all the other things that come with being a state trooper, he was the same guy.”

The Massachusetts State Police bills itself as the oldest state police force in the country.

Monday, the agency posted the following on Twitter:

"Our condolences to Dick's family. Rockwell's painting sums up this truth: An officer is never so tall as when he stoops to help a child."