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Published on Sunday, June 15, 2003
in the Lake City Reporter
For most dads, the picture-perfect Father's Day would consist of a bright and sunny day spending time with the family and playing in the yard with the family pet.
In the Boatwright family, very few Father's Days have been characterized by the picture perfect family gathering. There were wrecks, speeding drivers and people to help - not just on Father's Day, but on most other holiday days, too.
The bad neckties, mechanical gizmos and homemade gifts other fathers often received for Father's Day were sometimes replaced with hugs from wreck victims happy to be alive or a late-night bulletin about a stolen car.
The Boatwrights live Father's Days that consist of driving on long, winding state roads, monitoring the interstate for speeders or working through the aftermath of wrecks.
Yet, they also know about being Florida Highway Patrol troopers. In fact, they are the only known family to have a grandfather, father and son serve in the Florida Highway Patrol - three generations of state troopers.
"I'm the original and then my son and my grandson followed," said Kenneth Boatwright, whose wife, Carolyn, worked in the same office as a license examiner. "I'm very proud of both of them. My son really wanted to come on."
Kenneth's son, (Kenneth) Mark Boatwright is with Troop H, assigned as a shift commander in the Tallahassee Regional Communications Center of the FHP. His son, Kenneth Mark (Boaty) Boatwright, Jr., is in the field phase of training, which lasts 10 weeks, to become a trooper.
As FHP troopers, all three have gotten accustomed to patrolling the state's roads on holidays.
Kenneth is a retired trooper, while Mark is a veteran enforcement officer and Boaty is just beginning his career.
Since 1939, the taupe and black-colored uniforms have been the colors of the FHP, but in 1957 Kenneth made the decision to the wear the taupe and black uniform of a patrol trooper and since then it's been family tradition.
Kenneth, 70, was 23 years old when he first became a state trooper. He served in Nassau, Dixie, Orange, Broward and Columbia counties during his 29 years before retiring in 1986.
"I was the district commander here in Lake City," he said.
Kenneth was in the Army and assigned to the military police corps when he first thought of being a patrol officer.
"I kind of got to liking police work and when I got out the military I applied at the FHP and they took me on," he said. "I really got my desire to be a trooper from the military, even though I only served for two years."
Kenneth and his son were never stationed in the same place. His son was stationed in Fort Myers when he first got out of the Highway Patrol Academy, when Kenneth was in Lake City.
"We didn't actually work together in this county, but we were both stationed here at different times," he said.
Mark, 43, has been a state trooper since 1985 and during more than 18 years of work, he's served in Fort Myers, Lake City, Ocala and now Tallahassee.
"I was just always interested in being a state trooper," he said. "I was interested in law enforcement and outdoors, in this field, you're out doing your job."
Mark, who was able to see the inner workings of being a trooper at a young age, said seeing how close troopers were with each other and his father really influenced his decision.
"Back then, in the older days, the highway patrol was a close family and everybody knew each other," he said. "They were a close family and it was just natural to want to do the same job."
Unfortunately, growing up as a trooper's child wasn't as glamorous, but more time consuming than other jobs and Mark spent many holidays, including Father's Day, away from his dad.
"Father's Day was like any other holiday, about half the time he wasn't there," Mark said about his father during holidays. "We used to joke about it being many years before he even had a Christmas off."
Boaty, 20, is in Troop C, a sub-district of the Tampa area. He has been a trooper since November and works in the Pasco County, Zephyrhills area. He became a state trooper in 2002, after watching his father and grandfather work in the same field.
Boaty said being a FHP trooper has always been a dream.
"I was about 6 years old when I realized that was what I wanted to do," he said, explaining how seeing what his father and grandfather did at work influenced his decision.
"It influenced me quite a bit. That's all I really knew growing up - was being a trooper," Boaty said. "It's a public service and I wanted to get out there, help people and reduce speeding on the roads. Speed does kill. That was my main influence. I just wanted to help people. Growing up seeing daddy and grand daddy, I knew the risk of the job and death. You just can't shy away from it."
"I enjoyed my work, my career and I think my son and grandson have the same desire," Kenneth said. "My grandson had the desire to be a trooper since he was a little boy. He never wanted to be anything else.
"I didn't really try to influence my son or grandson, but they both, from a very young age, wanted to follow in my footsteps and for that I felt honored and I still feel honored," Kenneth continued. "They just liked what I was doing. I didn't have any special detail that led them into this."
All three appeared to be proud of having the honor of being part of the state history as third generation troopers.
"It feels really good, knowing it's a family tradition," Boaty said.
He said there are other father and son, mother and daughter, father and two sons trooper teams throughout the state, but he and his family are the first as a third-generation family.
"It was kind of neat going through there (trooper academy)," Boaty said. "I did think about it a little, but the decision to be become a trooper wasn't by accident. It was mainly keeping a tradition. It was something I always wanted to do. Other people have tried to be third generation troopers, but could not get it and it felt like a great accomplishment for me."
Though the Boatwrights are not expecting to celebrate this year's Father's Day together, it's familiar territory.
Mark said he believes this year, Boaty will be off and he'll be working, while Boaty said it was unlikely they would spend Father's Day together because they were all in different areas of the state.
"It's probably not going to be special for my first Father's Day as a trooper because I won't see them," he said. "There will probably be a phone call made, but there won't be any family time. But that comes with the job - shift work, you know."