By Associated Press - Tuesday, March 3, 2015

NEOGA, Ill. (AP) - A former police chief of the Neoga (nee-OH’-guh) Police Department has died after suffering a heart attack while shoveling snow from his driveway.

Cumberland County Coroner Donna Whitaker says 68-year-old Gerry Mattern died Monday morning. The Effingham Daily News (https://bit.ly/1EJ37kM ) reports he had complained Sunday night in a Facebook post about the heavy snow he had to finish shoveling the following day.

Officer Jim Fuller worked with Mattern for about seven years. He says he and fellow officers would offer to plow the former police chief’s driveway, but Mattern always refused.



Community members told the newspaper that he will be remembered as a hardworking police officer who was always willing to help others.

Mattern retired in 2011 after spending more than three decades with the department.

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Information from: Effingham Daily News, https://www.effinghamdailynews.com

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