Atherton dispatcher Glenn Blick dies at 55 Atherton dispatcher Glenn Blick dies at 55 (March 23, 2005)

The Atherton Police Department lost one of its own last week when night-shift dispatcher Glenn Blick -- with the department since 1986 -- died Wednesday, March 16, after a brief illness. He was 55.

Services are scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, March 24, in Half Moon Bay, where Mr. Blick lived. The entire Atherton Police Department will attend, said dispatcher Joanne Thomas-Smith. Officers from Palo Alto and Menlo Park will patrol Atherton while the force is away, said Ms. Thomas-Smith.

"I still expect him to come through the door at night to relieve me," said Ms. Thomas-Smith, her voice on the edge of breaking. "Every night, he would make me a cup of tea."

Mr. Blick didn't feel sick until the previous weekend, said Chris Adair, his stepson and an East Palo Alto police officer. "He thought he had the flu and went to the doctor and it turned out he didn't."

The cause of death was cancer, said Mr. Adair. "He was lucky that it came on real suddenly. He wasn't in a lot of pain and he went quickly," he said.

Mr. Adair recalled that he was about 3 years old when Mr. Blick entered his life as a friend of his mother. "Even before they were married, they were best friends and I spent just about every weekend with him," he said. "He was a great role model and a great guy."

Mr. Blick is survived by his wife Anita of Half Moon Bay; and sons Chris Adair of the Central Valley and Greg Adair of Seattle.

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