Sheriff Christopher S. (Huck) Look would have been pleased by the fellowship that arose at Tuesday’s service at the Edgartown Whaling Church. All his grandchildren, his family, many of his friends and a lot of his colleagues in the profession from across the state were there. Police chiefs and officers from every Island town, and many from afar, came to pay tribute.

Every state county sheriff’s office, all 14 of them, sent a representative; there were friends and associates, acting and retired, from Berkshire to Barnstable, from Essex to Bristol, to pay homage.

The Vineyard boy was eulogized, applauded and later laid to rest ceremonially in a way fitting for one who had risen to the highest office in the affairs of a county and held it for 28 years.

Rev. Vincent G. (Chip) Seadale, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, officiated the service. “Huck had a strong desire to serve the public with compassion,” he said, and the church was full of those who had been an object of that spirit of service.

“He was humble, and he loved his family. His family came first,” Reverend Seadale said, and there was plenty of family in the first three rows of the church who felt the same way.

Eight of the sheriff’s grandchildren, a few with tears, stood at a podium to affirm before all their love for their patriarch. “Our Papa,” began the poem, read by Lucas Butynski, called Funeral Poem for a Granddad, written by the family.

It was Joseph Sollitto, clerk to the superior court, who took to the podium wearing his traditional bow tie, who made those in attendance smile. Mr. Sollitto first acknowledged that there were acting and retired judges, court officers, a past member of the state senate and house representative, and state and local police there, who all had come to honor the man everyone called “Huck.” Mr. Sollitto described his departed friend as more generous than most, leaving a legacy of friendships across the Islands and state.

“He loved people and he loved being sheriff,” Mr. Sollitto said.

Mr. Sollitto said the sheriff proudly wore the black top hat and tails of another era, embracing the pomp and circumstance associated with sheriffs who had preceded him.

“He truly was the man of the people. He liked good times and all the good stories, some of them not appropriate here,” Mr. Sollitto said.

Mr. Sollitto asked the audience to stand and applaud as a way to recognize a man who had served well in public life; a tribute to a husband, brother, father, grandfather, to a man of many roles.

At the end of the service, as in the beginning, an honor guard of flag-carrying state and local police and county sheriff’s deputies stood at attention at the entrance to the church. The honor guard was led by Lieut. David Murphy, of the deputy sheriff’s department. Standing still as statues, their shiny badges, gold trim and Island town seals shone, blazing in the bright sun.

Following the service the “blue light” processional moved slowly from the Edgartown Whaling Church to the New Westside Cemetery. More than 30 police cruisers followed the march.

Previous to the church service, on Monday night, there was a well attended Masonic service held at the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs for the departing 32nd degree Mason. A veterans’ service was held graveside.