Family, friends and fellow LAPD officers attend the funeral of Martin Franco at the Sky Rose Chapel in Rose Hills Memorial Park July 16, 2010. Martin is survived by his wife Lupe and sons Andrew, 10, and Anthony, 7. (SGVN/Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb/SWCITY)
His relatives remembered how, as a child, Martin Franco would devour police shows like "Adam-12" and run around the house creating makeshift gun holsters, much in the same way his older son, Andrew, does now.
As a youngster, Franco would even wait for his uncle to come home, all so he could sneak up on him and yell "spread 'em!" in anticipation of searching his latest "suspect."
Even back then, Franco knew law enforcement would dominate his life - and as a 20-year plus veteran officer in the city and county of Los Angeles, that's exactly how his life ended up unfolding.
On Friday, hundreds of his fellow officers, friends and family members gathered at the SkyRose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary to pay tribute to the inspiring life of Franco, a Pico Rivera resident who lost his seven-year battle with colorectal cancer July 6.
He was just a few weeks shy of his 41st birthday.
"Martin was quite a jokester," said sister-in-law Cristina Felix, who was accompanied by Franco's 7-year-old son, Anthony, as she stood at the pulpit to eulogize his father.
"He had nicknames for everyone, some of which can't be repeated in this church - especially the one for his sister, Connie," Felix said, as a series of low chuckles escaped from those sitting in the packed chapel.
"But they came from love."
The 11 a.m. service began with a fully uniformed bagpiper who played "Coming Home" and preceded the entrance of Franco's flag- draped coffin into the chapel.
Franco's wife of 17 years, Lupe, sat in the front row with her sons, Anthony and Andrew, 10, who was dressed in uniform for the funeral service.
The coffin was placed at the front of the church by a large picture of Franco, several floral arrangements and a display of a police uniform, gloves and badges.
Franco began his law enforcement career in 1988, and spent 13 years with the LAPD, first at the Wilshire Area division and then at the Rampart Area division.
That's where he met LAPD Capt. John Egan, who was assigned to Rampart as a commanding officer.
"When I first met him, he was in the advanced stages of his disease," Egan said. "And there was a palpable sense of love, respect and support for him at Rampart. They'd refer to him as the Energizer Bunny because he just kept going and going and going.
"And when I'd see him, I'd always tell him, 'Fight On!"' Egan said, referring to the USC fight song that Franco adopted as his own personal motto while undergoing cancer treatment at the USC Norris Cancer Center.
During Franco's LAPD tenure, he was honored as Officer of the Year and received more than 70 commendations for teamwork, tactics, investigation skills and contributions to his community, including rescuing a family from a burning apartment.
Franco was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 and spent much of his illness staunchly advocating for early detection and prevention. In May, he served as honorary co-chair for Pico Rivera's Relay of Life fundraiser for cancer research.
He retired from the LAPD last year because of his illness.
But in the time he had left, Felix said Franco was extremely affectionate with his sons, never afraid to hug them despite his condition and spent as much time with them as he could.
"Before he died, he told me he didn't want his boys to forget about him," Felix said. "But no one will ever forget Martin. He'll be around in the hearts of his wife, children, parents, brothers and sisters and anyone else who ever met him."
Besides his wife and sons, Franco is survived by his father, Salvador; stepmother Leonor; brothers Sal and Joe; and five sisters, Ramona, Lupe, Rachel, Terry and Connie.
