From CP24, Const. Kovach’s final journey from Guelph Police HQ.

Today marks a sombre day in Guelph, as Const. Jennifer Kovach is laid to rest.

Guelph is a strong community that takes care of its own. It rallies together, celebrates together, and when necessary, mourns together. The loss of Constable Kovach has brought together members of the community in ways they never have before. It has been plain to see over the past week, just how tightly Guelph is bound. From flags lowered around the city to businesses donating resources to aide in the funeral arrangements; from buses, to food, to equipment and more.

We are all truly grateful for the emergency services provided in Guelph. They are top-notch both in the quality of their efforts, and the personnel who provide them. Such an event is dark reminder of the risk they take on in order to keep our community safe. Words cannot accurately describe how invaluable these contributions are to a city like Guelph.

Rather than speak further to the occasion, I feel this excerpt from today’s Guelph Mercury does it the fairest justice.

Remembering Const. Jennifer Kovach. March 21st, 2013. Mercury Staff

Guelph changed a week ago.

It took a terrible incident on the city’s west side to do it.

The community has rallied since this awful development and it will continue to do so. It must.

It must because there is no other choice. It must because great communities are made stronger by their experiences and this is such a community. It must because the individual most connected to this sad episode in Guelph’s history was a dynamic, smiling, energy-giving citizen, professional and public servant and it would dishonour her many qualities and what she achieved in her personal life and in her career not to move forward.

That is not to say we are to forget Const. Jennifer Kovach. To the contrary, we should and need to remember her.

There are so many unknowns about the on-duty incident that saw her fatally injured a week ago. But so many things are clear as well.

A much-loved and much-respected young police officer died while in the act of responding to a call to aid a fellow officer attempting to make a nearby arrest.

A much-loved daughter, sibling, friend, neighbour, animal lover and more was lost when she succumbed to injuries suffered after the cruiser she was driving collided with a bus.

Const. Kovach died engaged in work and a service of the public that had been her dream to achieve.

Her family is known widely in Guelph for its varied and enduring public service. She did her relatives proud through becoming a police officer and the person she was.

Her family and the extended families she was part of through work as a police officer and a first responder have shown such resolve in the past seven days. They have rightly thanked the many stakeholders who came to help and to try to save Const. Kovach a week ago — when their pain and their sense of loss at her passing would have been so overwhelming.

That sense continues today.

Many parts of Guelph and many of its citizens and their guests will pause Thursday to celebrate the life of Const. Kovach and remember her. They will break from their routines and mark something special with appropriate and unhurried care and special regard.

Her funeral Thursday will be a nationally significant and historic event for this community.

Police officers work under pressures and expectations that are unknown to those outside the police culture and the family networks of police officers. It is a profession that invites risk and receives inadequate appreciation. The number of those who will participate in Const. Kovach’s memorial services will be swelled by police, fire and other emergency responders who uniquely appreciate what Kovach undertook in becoming a police officer. They come to pay special tribute to her and to the bond they share with her work. They’re also coming to support her family and the other communities with which she was and remains deeply connected.

This week has seen so many people come together over this death and the enormous suffering it has caused.

There have been remarkable and varied expressions of condolence, support and kindness extended toward those who were closest to this young woman. In a week darkened by this sad news, this has provided widely uplifting light.

That giving and kind spirit needs to continue.

Thursday will be a trying, but also wonderful celebration of Const. Kovach. May it also prove to be a day that helps her loved ones, her peers and all of Guelph.

We recall Const. Kovach Thursday. We offer tribute to the field of work she pursued. We remember a citizen and friend lost too young. And, we will do so for years to come.