On and on the line stretched, down the block around the corner, easily a 90-minute wait to get inside John F. Givnish Funeral Home on Academy Road in the Far Northeast.
Over and over, as the mourners stood patiently on line, a feeling arose: He was as good and decent and honest and considerate a man as America can make. He loved his family and he loved the police force.
And what seemed so horribly sad to people, what was so cruel and clear in contrast, was that a killer placed so little value on human life that he gunned down a public servant who had touched so many, and sunk roots so deep, in his 54 years.
"You're out there supporting your family every day, serving your city, and somebody who has no morals takes life away from you," said Kathy Gibson, whose daughter Bridget is a sophomore at Gwynedd-Mercy College and a roommate with one of the Cassidy daughters.
"It's sad," echoed Jim Gibson. "I'm just trying not to let the anger in. "
Friends in line last night painted a portrait of Chuck Cassidy as a family man, one who agreed to coach son John's soccer team, even though the boy was new to the sport and never played one minute of one game - he was too busy playing in the dirt. That didn't bother Chuck Cassidy .
Cassidy played pickup basketball in a regular game in Lawncrest for more than a decade, and never lost his cool, never argued a call.
His wife, Judy, is the kind of woman who volunteered in the schools when her children were younger, and could always be counted on to bring the pizza to her children's class parties. Countless times an hour since Cassidy was killed, horns have beeped as cars pass the family's home on Willits Road, a sign of respect.
"This is a great family," said Claire Alminde, a family friend. She said that last night, in the receiving line at the funeral home, Judy Cassidy was "asking everybody, 'How are you doing? ' "
