Stamford community lays Dougie White to rest

Turn of River Volunteer Fire Department members give a final salute to Stamford resident Dougie White during his burial at Queen of Peace Cemetery in Stamford on Tuesday. Dougie White was a developmentally disabled man who touched scores of residents with his gentle and friendly demeanor. White was given a proper funeral Tuesday, thanks to a community effort to raise money. less Turn of River Volunteer Fire Department members give a final salute to Stamford resident Dougie White during his burial at Queen of Peace Cemetery in Stamford on Tuesday. Dougie White was a developmentally ... more Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Stamford community lays Dougie White to rest 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — Douglas White’s bicycle made its final run up High Ridge Road on Tuesday, affixed to the back of a Turn of River Fire Department pickup truck. As White’s funeral procession wound its way from the city’s East Side to his final resting place at Queen of Peace Cemetery in North Stamford, his near-constant companion was never more than a few car lengths away.

White, who died last week at the age of 68 after suffering a stroke during one of his daily bicycle rides, was a legendary fixture in Stamford’s High Ridge neighborhood. Known as a gentle and friendly people-person, White was inseparable from his single-speed cruiser bike, the vehicle that gave him independence despite his developmental disabilities.

Examining the bicycle outside Cognetta’s Funeral home on the East Side Tuesday morning, Jim Slocum and Paul Abbazia admired their friend’s ride, which White had done up in green tape and drawings of ghosts — a reference to his love of Halloween.

“That’s what Dougie would always do,” Slocum said, referring to White by his nickname. “He would always have his bike decorated.”

“He really went all out on this one,” Abbazia agreed. “I think it might be his best.”

Like many of those in attendance at White’s viewing, Slocum and Abbazia became friends with White while growing up in High Ridge.

“When I was a teen, I was building cars,” Abbazia recalled. “He’d sit in the lawn chair (while I worked) and we’d talk for hours.”

Dougie stories

Similar stories filled the air among the several dozen mourners in attendance. Though emotions ran high, the palpable sadness in the room was punctuated by laughs and smiles as friends and family traded “Dougie stories.”

Brandon O’Brien, a Stamford firefighter formerly with the Turn of River volunteers, recalled calming White down three years ago when White, being loaded into an ambulance, wanted his bike along for the ride.

“I had to talk to Dougie for a few minutes. ‘Dougie, I’m going to take your bike back to the station,’” O’Brien recalled. “Then I had to ride it back. It was a heavy bike!”

Marc Bucci, another neighborhood friend who grew up with White, smiled at O’Brien.

“Back in the day, if he let you ride his bike, you were special,” Bucci said.

White was a common sight at the volunteer fire department’s station on Turn of River Road.

“Doug was there every day,” said Thomas O’Brien, Brandon’s father, a firefighter since 1981. White, he said, “(has) been a life long friend.”

A community comes forward

Turn of River’s volunteers were first to respond to the emergency call last Monday, when a neighbor found White on the ground next to his bike. The department helped get White to Stamford Hospital, where it was discovered he had had a stroke. He died two days later on Wednesday morning.

Seven Turn of River firefighters, the O’Briens included, attended the funeral in their dress-blue uniforms. They served as White’s pallbearers, and drove a shiny fire engine behind the funeral procession’s lead car as an honor guard.

White’s funeral was an expression of community admiration. After his death, White’s family put out a call through gofundme.com for help offsetting his medical bills and funeral expenses. Their $15,000 goal was surpassed in less than 24 hours.

All money beyond that goal will be donated to Always Reaching for Independence, a Stamford-based nonprofit founded by White’s late father, Francis. As of Tuesday night, the community had donated over $20,000.

“We have reached way beyond our goal," Bryanna Julian-Manka, White‘s grandniece, said to mourners Tuesday.“On behlaf of the Julian and Manka families I would like to thank anybody who has donated.“

A ‘talisman’

Funeral services were held at the Stamford Church of Christ on High Ridge Road, where White frequently attended church picnics.

The service began to one of White’s favorite songs, Judy Garland’s rendition of "Over the Rainbow.”

As family and friends began to reflect on White’s life, their words turned time and time again to his role in the community.

Ralph Nazareth, White’s next-door neighbor for some three decades, painted the picture of a kind man looking out for his neighborhood. “Dougie was a talisman for us - he was a protector spirit,” Nazareth said to those gathered in the pews. “When my children started growing up, Dougie would stand in the (cul de sac) hurling invective at the cars that drove by, because he was going to protect my daughters.”

White’s niece, Melissa Manka, spoke similarly of his commitment to his neighbors. Since White’s death, Manka said, she’s been replaying an image of White pushing her small daughter on a tricycle, singing songs to her.

“It dawned on me how many generations he’s (known),” she said, tears coming to her eyes. “It wasn’t just in our house. It was the whole community. The world would be a better place if we were all a little more like Dougie.”

Dale Pauls, the church’s senior minister, echoed the notion of White was a central figure in High Ridge.

“Neighborhoods are blessed by a man like Dougie - a man like Dougie makes a neighborhood,” he said

And just as White’s casket was about to be lowered into the ground at Queen of Peace Cemetery, the firefighters from Turn of River honored him as one of their own: They saluted.

ESimko-Bednarski@scni.com; 203-964-2215; stamfordadvocate.com/news