Gregory Grimes, veteran police sergeant and dedicated football official, was laid to rest yesterday as streets in Hamilton were blocked off for his funeral at The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity.

MPs from both the One Bermuda Alliance and the Progressive Labour Party, including party leaders Michael Dunkley and David Burt, and newly elected PLP MP Neville Tyrrell, who is a former president of the Bermuda Football Association, attended the service as Grimes’s casket was carried on the back of an open police truck and with a police escort.

Sergeant Grimes served the community as a police officer for 38 years — the last 25 as a sergeant — and in various capacities in football, including as a referee, match commissioner and as second vice-president of the BFA.

He retired from the Bermuda Police Service on June 12 but returned to continue working at the Hamilton Police Station, where he served as manager of the custody facility up until his death last Thursday.

“The appraisals [of Sergeant Grimes] contain the same key words for almost 38 years,” Commissioner of Police Michael DeSilva said.

“Efficient, enthusiastic, steady, confident, team player, team leader, professional, dedicated, compassionate, high standards, character.

“That is the summary of 38 years of police commentary on Sergeant Gregory Grimes.

“Now I would like to share what I wrote about Greg. In May 2015, I submitted an application to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK Government through Government House in Bermuda. In part, the application read as follows:

“Sergeant Grimes is highly regarded in the BPS as an exemplary, compassionate and energetic supervisor. He provides model leadership to his staff, inspires positive morale and delivers positive coaching and mentoring for junior staff.

“He has gained a reputation as a steady hand at the wheel and his professional commitment and high performance has earned him the award of Officer of the Year twice in the last five years.

“Sergeant Grimes is regarded as highly competent in the ‘Custody Suite’ and he is considered to be the most experienced and capable custody sergeant serving in the BPS.

“His leadership has made a significant difference to the organisation by helping to provide a smooth, trouble-free transition to our new custody facility. His professional manner and excellent skill sets have helped the BPS navigate through changes brought about by legislative amendments while protecting the professional performance and reputation of the BPS in the area of custody and detention.

“Sergeant Grimes’s service to policing in Bermuda has been meritorious and deserving of recognition, and it is my honour to make this recommendation.”

Mr DeSilva continued: “I’m pleased to report that Sergeant Grimes was awarded the Overseas Territory Police Medal for meritorious service in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2016; he was absolutely most deserving of that award.”

The church was filled with police officers, football officials, and family and friends as last respects were paid to Sergeant Grimes.

“To the entire Greg Grimes family, on behalf of my senior colleagues and all of the officers, staff and cadets of the Bermuda Police Service and Bermuda Reserve Police, I offer our most sincere condolences,” Mr DeSilva told the family.

“I would like to thank you for sharing Greg with us for his entire adult life and even some of his teenage years. He has touched hundreds of lives inside the police and throughout the community, and Bermuda has been the beneficiary of his lifelong commitment to public service.”

Sergeant Grimes’s other life was football, where he served in various roles. He even had his own desk and computer at the BFA office despite never becoming a member of staff — he was rather a long-serving volunteer who could often be found there on his days off.

Mark Wade, the recently elected BFA president, read notes of condolences from Gianni Infantino, Gordon Derrick and Victor Montagliani the presidents respectively of Fifa, football’s world governing body, the Caribbean Football Union and Concacaf.

Mr Infantino wrote: “Please accept my deepest condolences on hearing of your former vice-president Gregory Grimes’s passing. Grimes served for 30 years as a referee, referee instructor, committee chairman, head of delegation, committee member and match commissioner ... a wonderful commitment to football.”

Mr Wade added: “From us at the Bermuda Football Association, Mr Grimes was an ever-present member of our team. He served as chairman and member of the youth committee, on the women’s committee, education committee, referees committee and various other committees on which he was called.

“He was very active outside the boardroom, as many will attest, in his roles as referee, referee instructor and referee assessor, having gained certification after attending many Fifa and Concacaf courses. He was a match commissioner to the very end.”

Referees honoured Mr Grimes with a guard of honour when his casket was brought out of the church. And after he was finally laid to rest at Christ Church in Devonshire, the referees stood around the grave while colleague Ronue Cann blew the final whistle.

“A young referee [Antoine Augustus] considers Mr Grimes his mentor and was often teased about being Mr Grimes’s godchild,” Wade said. “His response to that is ‘I’m proud to be called Mr Grimes’s godson and I’m going to miss his assessment of my refereeing and will look on the side and hope he’s still there’.

“For us [at the BFA] we’re just going to consider that Mr Grimes is just out of the office on one of his many cruises. To his family, thank you very much for sharing Mr Grimes with us.”