‘Epitome of a gentleman.’ Pasco reserve who bridged the gap with Black community dies
A longtime Pasco reserve officer was remembered as a friendly face with a story to tell.
Bert Wilson died in a local hospital Saturday after a sudden illness. He was 72.
When Pasco police announced his death Monday, more than 100 people commented and shared memories of him both as a longtime police reserve and part-time member of the Port of Pasco police department.
“Bert was a true friend,” one person said. “I always enjoyed working with him! I will miss his laugh. Rest in peace, Bert. Our condolences to his family.”
They said he was always smiling and took time to talk to people at the Tri-Cities Airport and wish them a safe trip.
He was a dedicated family man and an avid fisherman who was active in the community, Pasco police said.
The former truck driver, and his wife, Gracie, began with the police reserve program in its earliest days. When they joined in 1975, the city didn’t have any Black police officers and community tensions were high, Wilson would later tell the Herald.
“The thing about Bert and Gracie is that they knew everyone in the Black community,” Pasco Officer Cliff Nelson said when the couple retired in 1999. “They helped us in bridging the gap between the police and the Black community in a tumultuous time in the 1970s.”
During their 24 years with the department, the couple monitored school sporting events and patrolled Tri-Cities Water Follies. Along with the those patrols, the couple posed as a sex worker and a pimp to arrest people trying to engage in human trafficking.
“We would have hired him as a regular full-time officer but at the time, we could not entice him away from his Teamster driving job,” Pasco police said in a Facebook post. “It was our privilege to have him help us for 24 years part-time as a reserve officer.”
In recent years, Bert Wilson worked part-time for the port at the airport.
Port Chief Barry Gilk worked with him for 10 years before Wilson retired in 2017.
Gilk described him as the epitome of a gentlemen, a good police officer and an all-around good friend.
They would spend a lot of time talking about fishing since Wilson often visited places near where Gilk grew up.
Even when people would get belligerent, he was able to win them over and get them to cooperate, Gilk recounted.
“He really brought life to a place when he walked in,” Gilk said. “He always had kind words for everyone.”