EAST CARONDELET, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
The police chief of the small St. Clair County, Illinois, town of East Carondelet, Illinois, appeared to have died from heart failure, the town's mayor said Sunday. East Carondelet chief, Alan Biggerstaff, 56, died in a Chicago hotel room Thursday. "It was a shock, absolute shock, to hear this," said East Carondelet resident, Sherri LaCroix."When I got the phone call, yesterday, morning, it was just like, 'Oh my God, no!' " LaCroix used to work with Biggerstaff at the former St. Mary's Hospital in East St. Louis. You got the feeling everyone in East Carondelet, a town of fewer than 300 people, shared LaCroix's feelings.
"Not seeing that smile...he pulled in here almost right after he got the [chief's] position and talked to me about how he wanted to better things," recalled convenience store owner, Alice LaMastus.
Chief for only 3 months, Biggerstaff was on the police department for about 20 years.
"I mean he was like a role model," said Chad Simmons, a young man about to enter the police academy.
He was one of three young men who said they were considering careers as police officers because of Biggerstaff. They were polishing police cruisers for his funeral.
"He was almost like a dignitary out here, because he knew everybody out here. He knew about you, about your family, about your friends," LaCroix said. "He would always come to your aid. It just didn't matter."
"You know in life, there are friends, and there are true friends," said East Carondelet Mayor, Herb Simmons. "By far, he was a true friend," Simmons said through tears.
The mayor said Biggerstaff started out driving ambulances after chasing them on a bicycle as boy; then he became the long time director of emergency services at St. Mary's hospital before taking a post as the Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. He always held onto his second job as a cop in East Carondelet. Along with his police and medical careers, Biggerstaff was in the BBQ business for a time. He and Simmons ran Mr. B's BBQ in Cahokia.
A keepsake from those days, from Biggerstaff, was still on Simmons porch Sunday: a pig-shaped grill.
"I came home, and it was sitting on the porch ... he said, 'look what I made,' ", Simmons laughed. "You can go anywhere in the Metro East area, mention his name, they're going to know him; either in health care or in law enforcement. He sat on the board of the NAACP, East St. Louis Chapter...I'm going to put, if I can find, a red light [flashing police ligh], on his coffin, his casket."
A sign that, in a way, this town, will never be without it's top cop.
Biggerstaff was traveling in Chicago for his job as Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Simmons siad he is survived by his two brothers, his sister, and two beloved dogs; Biggertaff was not married and had no children.
His visitation and memorial service will be Tuesday and Wednesday at Paynic funeral home in East Alton, with burial at Rose Lawn cemetery in Bethalto.
