Prison officer's funeral draws hundreds to Fort Snelling
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Updated 2:20 p.m. | Posted 12:16 p.m.
Friends, family and hundreds of law enforcement officers said their final goodbyes Tuesday to the Forest Lake corrections officer who died last week after coming to the aid of a colleague assaulted by an inmate at Oak Park Heights state prison.
The funeral for Joseph Parise, 37, filled the sanctuary of the historic Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel with songs and prayers. It was the same chapel where he'd married his wife Andrea years before.
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Former corrections officer James Carter delivered the eulogy for Parise to the 20 rows of mourners gathered in the chapel on a gray and rainy day, eight days after he died after suffering what prison officials called a medical emergency on the job at Oak Park Heights.
"Whether in the Navy as a firefighter, or as a corrections officer with the Department of Corrections, Joe never hesitated to put himself in harm's way, do what needed to be done to control the situation, and always gave 100 percent of himself. Joe died doing this. Joe died to help his fellow officers. To help his brothers and sisters," Carter said.
Parise, he added, had intervened once when an inmate had threatened him.
The two were fast, though not immediate, friends. Carter told mourners he considered Parise a showoff. But they were both veterans, both gun and car enthusiasts, and jokers, Carter said. "Joe loved to have fun. He would find humor in every situation and that humor made life working in prison bearable."
Prison chaplain Martin Shanahan, who led the service, told mourners a story of how Parise's quick thinking in the Navy helped put a shipboard fire, and that Parise had answered the call in a similar way when a fellow officer needed help at Oak Park Heights.
"On Sept. 24, Joe did it again. He ran directly into the conflict to help his comrades," Shanahan said. "He made sure everyone was safe and he returned to his post, and only then did he succumb to the stress of the event and offer up his life."
Scott Roemer, a friend and colleague, remembered Parise for his love for his family, the Navy and for the Department of Corrections Honor Guard, of which he was a member.
He recalled a day at Oak Park Heights that spoke to Parise's precision. "The floor was kind of dirty, and Joe wasn't OK with that. He got out the mop and bucket and he started mopping, with great form and great technique. And I was like, 'Joe you're the greatest mopper I've ever known.' And he looks at me and he says, 'There's a right way to mop.' It was from his days in the Navy," Roemer said. "He was proud of that."
The funeral was followed by a procession through Mendota Heights and across the east metro for an interment at the Fairview Cemetery in Stillwater.
Parise left behind his wife and daughter Lucy. He was also expecting a son in coming months.
Correction (Oct. 3, 2018): Sgt. Richard Sieber was misidentified in a caption in the photo gallery. The caption has been updated.
