Former Bunkie Police Chief Mary Fanara Passed Away

  A Mass of Christian Burial for Mary Fanara, age 58 of Bunkie, LA., will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 5, 2015 at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Bunkie with the Rev. Scott Chemino officiating.
    Burial will follow at Pythian Cemetery in Bunkie, LA under the direction of Hixson-Ducote Funeral Home of Bunkie.
    Visitation will be held at 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. on Friday at the Hixson-Ducote Funeral Home in Bunkie. A rosary will be cited at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday at the funeral home.

  Mary Fanara, who retired last year as Bunkie police chief, died early Tuesday morning in her home after a lengthy illness.
        She retired last July 1 after 37 years in law enforcement -- 33 of those in Bunkie.  She began as a dispatcher.
    Mayor Mike Robertson described Fanara as “an awesome woman, a great chief who dedicated 37 years of her life to law enforcement and to a community she dearly loved. Chief Fanara will be dearly missed by our community.”
    Robertson, who was a Bunkie police officer for several years, was the assistant police chief under Fanara before he was elected mayor five years ago.
    “She was a great police chief and police officer for Bunkie,” former Bunkie Mayor Gerard Moreau said. “We had a good working relationship and she took law enforcement seriously and did it in a professional manner.”
    Fanara started her career in law enforcement in May 1977 when then-Police Chief Leon Franklin Sr. hired her as a dispatcher and to do paperwork. She said many believed police work was a man’s job and no place for a woman.
    In 1990, she ran for Ward 10 marshal and won. In 1994, she challenged Charlie Candella for the chief’s position and the race went down in political history. She lost the election by two votes but filed a lawsuit in 12th Judicial District Court challenging the election results.
    District Judge Harold Brouillette threw out the results and ordered a new  election, which she won by a narrow margin. She became the first woman elected police chief in Avoyelles Parish.
    Four years later, she lost to Candella and went to work at the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office as a detective. In 2002, she defeated Candella in the fourth election between the pair. She served the next 12 years -- giving her four terms and 16 years total as police chief.
    “She was the persona of law enforcement,” Troy Redmon said on Tuesday morning. “She was firm but also cared for the people in the community. She was also very well respected across the state in law enforcement.”             Redmon, who is now an investigator with the District Attorney’s office, worked under and with Fanara during her career.
    Troop I State Policeman Willie Williams praised Fanara for her work in law enforcement, calling her his “law enforcement mother.”
    “In 1994, she gave me a chance in law enforcement when no one else would,” Williams said. “She trained and taught me law enforcement. When I made mistakes, she corrected me and showed me what I did wrong. In 1999, when I graduated from the State Police Academy, she pinned my badge on my uniform.”
    Williams said Fanara had an eye for law enforcement personnel. He pointed out that he, Scott Coco and Curtis Armand worked at the same time for BPD and all three became statetroopers.
    “I didn’t lie and I didn’t hide information from the public,” Fanara said last year. “I always kept my word to the people. I never made promises when I ran that were unrealistic because I always ran on my own merits and experiences.”