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Grieving couple gets sign from above
By Michele McPhee/The Beat
Monday, February 6, 2006 - Updated: 11:23 AM EST
In the terrible days after his 20-year-old son was killed by an allegedly drunken driver, Boston cop Dennis Thomson prayed for a sign from his slain namesake.
And he got one. It hangs over Fenway Park.
The Red Sox’s newest billboard over Yawkey Way features three guys from North Quincy knocking knuckles with Trot Nixon in 2003 after he pounded a home run in the 11th inning to clinch Game 3 of the series against the Yankees.
Joseph “Fitzy†Fitgerald is holding the home run ball he caught and is clenching it tight in his fist. His buddy, Dennis Thomson, is on his right, the brim of his Red Sox cap folded back to show his handsome face. Another friend, Neil Gavin, is screaming loud enough to reach the Green Monster.
Thomson, a U.S. airman, looks absolutely ecstatic. Why wouldn’t he? For a guy who loved baseball even before he was old enough to play Little League, who later became the star of the South Shore Seadogs, what could be better than getting a high-five from Trot Nixon flanked by your best friends at Fenway?
“After he died I prayed, God give me a sign that he’s OK. Well, we got a sign all right,†said Thomas, a 39-year BPD veteran who retired last week.
“I feel like that’s my kid up there saying, ‘It’s all right, Dad. Don’t worry about me, Dad.’ â€
Thomas saw the sign for the first time with his wife, Maureen, last Saturday morning. For a minute, the couple stood in front of it, motionless. What are the chances that out of the hundreds of games, the millions of fans in Red Sox nation, this would be the photograph chosen to sell tickets?
“It scares me,†Dennis Thomson said.
Maureen could barely breathe as they stared. The hardscrabble cop clenched his eyes shut as if the sheer motion could contain tears.
They came anyway.
“We cried for a long, long time. Then we looked at each other and started laughing. We couldn’t believe he pulled it off,†Maureen Thomson said. “Leave it to him to be the life of the party even now.â€
The Thomsons spoke about their son over lunch at Game On, which has now been deemed the family’s favorite restaurant. Nearly every table in the place has windows looking out onto the billboard, and nearly every member of the Thomson family has hoisted a beer to Dennis over the past week.
“I look at that and know that my son did a lot more in 20 years than other people can do in 40, 50 years,†Maureen Thomson said. “He lived life, loved life.â€
Thomson was hit by an allegedly drunken driver on Oct. 30, 2004 - the same day Boston hosted a World Series victory parade for his beloved Red Sox. In fact, his father was working in the drizzle not far from Yawkey Way when he got the call that a drunken driver had slammed into his son’s Jeep, ejecting him, as he drove back to the Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida along a dark stretch of the Mississippi Gulf Coast highway after visiting friends in Biloxi.
He lingered in a coma for weeks until he died Nov. 22. The 21-year-old U.S. Navy sailor who allegedly hit his vehicle is facing vehicular manslaughter charges for driving drunk.
“I buried him in a World Series T-shirt,†Maureen Thomson said. “As distraught as I was, I bought one at the airport before I flew down. There is nothing he loved more than the Red Sox.â€
I’m sure the corporate hot shots in the Red Sox sales office did not know that the company’s latest billboard would be much more than a pitch to sell tickets - at least to a Boston cop and his family.
Yeah, the cop said, it’s a sign. A divine one.
“It makes me feel a little better,†he said, turning his head away to hide the moisture in his eyes. “I haven’t been asking why so much.â€
A scholarship fund has been created in Dennis Thomson’s name. Donations can be sent to the Dennis Thomson Fund at Bank of America, 636 E. Broadway, South Boston, MA 02127.
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