Former Langley marshal’s widow gets old badge

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, January 14, 2015

June Farrington has a host of memories and memorabilia from her deceased husband’s long career in the military and law enforcement.

There was one piece missing, and it was perhaps the most crucial element of Ed Farrington’s career: a Langley police badge.

That was rectified recently when Langley Police Chief Dave Marks dug through his office’s archives and old boxes to find a badge from the 1970s. Ed Farrington was a marshal in Langley during that period, shortly after he and his wife moved to South Whidbey to raise their family and later return as retirees.

“This seemed like home to us,” said June in her Langley home. “This is where I intend to stay until the day I die.”

Ed Farrington died in 2011, and since then his wife has been a serious steward of his awards, honors and memories. She has a scrapbook that has all of the press articles that mentioned him as a cop and as a member of the U.S. Navy. The binder is so full it bulges when closed, clearly stuffed with too many plastic sleeves protecting too many newspaper clippings.

The Langley badge completes her collection of his badges, which she will put in a framed case alongside his badges from being a Navy base firefighter and police officer in Adelanto, Calif.

“We’ve completed the shadow box here,” Marks said. 

June Farrington has fond memories of her husband’s time as the representative of law and order in Langley. She recalled being woken late so she could accompany him during arrests of women to avoid any charges of wrongdoing.

“He’d take me out of bed in the wee hours of the morning whenever he arrested a woman and go clear all the way to Mount Vernon,” she said.

Marks, who served as an officer in Langley for years before being hired as the police chief, met Ed Farrington before he died. He said Ed came into the office a few times to bring old police gear — duty belts, a night stick — and memorabilia, including Ed Farrington’s officer’s log.

“It was pretty interesting,” Marks said.

“We don’t do it that much different today,” he added, referring to the methods of policing he read about from Ed’s log and heard from June’s stories.