PETERSHAM – After forty years of waking up in the middle of the night to answer a pager as a part-time fireman, police officer, and most recently, the full-time police chief in the town, Dana Cooley made one of the toughest decisions in his life.

“It was just time,” Cooley said recently from the Petersham Police Station with a thoughtful, but bittersweet smile. He glanced off briefly into the distance as if to gather some cherished memories over the last 32 years spent with the department. 

“I’ve been answering to a pager for probably 40 something years,” he said. “When you’re rolling out of bed by yourself in the middle of night, it just gets harder and harder to do. And the last thing I want is to not be able to make a call in the middle of night. Just got tired.”

Cooley’s retirement became official during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Peter Buck, the first full-time patrolman for the Petersham Department and longtime friend of Cooley, officially became Cooley’s successor this month.

Cooley said he loved serving the Petersham community. “Petersham is a beautiful place,” he said. “In fact, we just had a guy with a flat tire down by my driveway from Monson. He said he hikes up here all the time and told me what a beautiful community this is. I told him we’re trying to keep it a secret. But, yeah, it is beautiful.”

Cooley, a lifelong resident of Petersham, replaced former chief Denis Legare in August 2010. Prior to becoming a police officer, he also worked as Athol’s Assistant DPW Superintendent for 28 years.

Cooley said he will mostly miss working with his fellow officers and the community as a whole.

“I’m going to miss the whole thing. It’s a community here,” Cooley said. “Everybody works together. I mean, we worked well with the highway department and the fire department on different things … I’m proud of being community oriented, you know, taking care of the residents.

“I’m also going to miss my guys,” he said. “I can’t say enough about my men here in the department that have come and gone. We’ve got some great officers that have come through here to learn and grow and they have gone on to bigger and better things. I would like to think that I was a part of their growth. I’m proud that we gave a lot of guys an opportunity that start here and get the experience to be great officers. I consider myself very, very fortunate to have the men that I’ve had working for me.”

During the month of December, if you want to find Cooley, you’ll have to look for him in the woods. There, he will spend his time hunting and fishing and thinking about the next chapter of his life. “I will be in the woods, you know. Sitting on a stump and trying to figure out just what I do want,” he said. “I am going to step back and take a deep breath.”

Cooley does plan to continue to work with bloodhounds. He started working with bloodhounds for tracking purposes seven years ago for the department and does not plan to give that up. “It’s kind of a hobby for me,” he said. “I could take any part of your clothing, your pen and paper, your camera that you touched or your glasses and if I put that up to my dog once he’s in the harness and tell him to go find you, he will and he can track you for miles … It doesn’t matter if it rains or pours … And I’m going to continue doing that.”

Cooley’s successor, new chief Peter Buck, said he looks to continue what Cooley has started at the department. “I don’t think it’s about filling shoes when you take over a position,” Buck said. “I think it’s about continuing the legacy that was handed to you. That’s what it comes down to. Dana’s legacy here in this department is more like a family than a workplace and he has made amazing connections to the community. This is something that I love about policing, our ability to connect with the community.”

Buck brings a lot of experience to the police chief position. He started working in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in 1993, became a firefighter in Athol in 1994 and worked as an EMT for Woods Ambulance in 1995 before becoming a part-time police officer for Petersham in 1996. He would later become the first full-time patrolman in the history of the department.

Buck, who became close friends with Cooley over the years, said his friend leaves a legacy of leadership he hopes to continue. “I would say I want to continue his leadership style of working with his men and women at the department … he worked hand-in-hand with us, leading versus directing.”

Cooley then interrupted, smiling at his friend, the new chief. He said, “don’t make me cry, Peter.”

Buck replied smiling back at Cooley, “I’ll try not to … I’ve known Dana for a long time. It’s been a great family experience.”