Deputy Kyle Pagerly Memorial

November 12, 1982 - E. O. W. June 29, 2011

"If you stopped yourself every time you said, 'I have to' and changed it to, 'I get to', it might change your entire experience." ~ Kyle Pagerly

Deputy Kyle Pagerly Biography

Married Alecia A. Bird in 2007
Accomplished triathlete
Completed his first marathon in 2010

Career:

Wilson High School graduate, 2001
Graduate of Reading Police Academy, 2005
Graduate of Federal Prison Academy, 2006
Graduate of Philadelphia Canine Academy, 2009
Member of U.S. Marshall Task Force
Served in the U.S. Army in both Kosovo, 2002, and Iraq 2003-2004
Volunteer firefighter with the Spring Township Fire Department, starting as a junior firefighter as a teenager, rising to rank of lieutenant Berks County Sheriff’s Deputy, 2006
Part-time Officer, Western Berks Regional Police, implemented bike patrol, 2007

Deputy Sheriff Andrew “Andy” Rushton – 4/4/74 – 8/3/14

Honor. . .Integrity. . .Service. . . We will miss you, Andy.

~Your brothers & sisters / Berks County Sheriff’s Office

By: Deputy Sheriff Brian Noecker

I first met Andy through my younger brother in 2001. Andy and I became fast friends and spent a lot of time just hanging out together. At that time, Andy worked and owned movie theaters. When the movie theater business began to slow down years later, Andy became interested in police work. By then I was working as a deputy sheriff and convinced Andy to go to the Reading Police Academy. Shortly after he completed Reading’s program, he was hired by the Sheriff’s Office. Andy was now a part of the brotherhood of law enforcement. Andy and I were both assigned to the Warrants Division; I worked first shift and Andy worked second shift. We talked a lot about police work, especially as it relates to safety, tactics and general warrant service. Our friendship grew stronger through our shared interests, which included more than police work. We both were avid NFL fans and spent Sunday afternoons together watching football games in my living room, we played a lot of pick-up basketball games, and Andy was godfather to my four-year old daughter.

Andy was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2010. I saw a strong and determined side of my friend emerge as he battled numerous brain surgeries and chemotherapy for close to four years. He was strong, and his strength rubbed off on others. I wasn’t the only one who believed he would fully recover one day. His positive attitude and strong faith in God were contagious.

Andy lived the last six weeks of his short life at my house; he passed away on August 3, 2014 at the age of 40. On that day, I realized a lost more than a friend; I lost my brother.

Deputy Sheriff Dean Raifsnider – 5/14/57 – 2/25/14 The Sheriff’s Office has lost a beloved brother, friend, colleague and public servant. Sheriff Eric J. Weaknecht Deputy Sheriff Dean Raifsnider

The Sheriff’s Office has lost a beloved brother, friend, colleague and public servant.

Sheriff Eric J. Weaknecht

Deputy Sheriff Dean Raifsnider lost his long battle with cancer on February 25, 2014. His presence, dedication, and smiling face will surely be missed. Dean began working in the Sheriff’s Office on May 27, 2009, and all his colleagues would agree that no one loved being a deputy more than Dean – he was so proud to wear the uniform and would arrive for his shift every day eager to fulfill his duties. Always wanting to work in law enforcement, Dean would say the Sheriff’s Office was a place he could call home.

Dean was truly committed to public service and had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and self-improvement. As one colleague recalls, “Dean had a strong desire to do a good job and was serious about wanting to learn.” This fellow deputy then talked about how Dean would spend his free time in the office just to learn all that he could.

Dean had the same high level of commitment when it came to looking out for the interests and the needs of others, especially his two young nephews. For these boys, Dean was a surrogate dad and, from his bed in the hospital, worried about who would help them build their pinewood cars for the upcoming Boy Scout Pinewood Derby race. His commitment to these boys may have only been surpassed by his commitment to his wife, Richelle (Shelly), to whom he would have been married 19 years this coming May.

Dean was diagnosed with Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia (cancer of the blood and bone marrow) in November, 2011. He approached the fight of his life with the same dogged determination to learn all he could and do all he could to beat this disease. He began treatment at the Johns Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore and returned to work in June 2012. When the cancer returned a year later, Dean was optimistic that he would win the fight following a bone marrow transplant. Dean never gave up and never gave in, even after learning that the bone marrow transplant didn’t work.

It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to someone we are thankful to have known. Dean was a shining example and a proud representation of the Berks County Sheriff’s Office. We are thankful Dean chose the Sheriff’s Office as his place to call home.