Legendary lawman and “Texas Ranger” Frank Hamer, who along with Ranger Maney Gault tracked down and ended the criminal careers of Bonnie and Clyde in a hail of gunfire on a rural dirt road in Louisiana on May 23, 1934, referred to them as “a turn in the road.” Those decisions made, and actions taken, that would have long and even life-changing consequences that no one really planned on, or saw coming. For my family’s cleaning business, our “turn in the road” happened in 1969, when my father answered a phone call from a gentleman he knew from his Sunday school class. This gentleman’s son had made the unfortunate decision to take his own life with a firearm. In 1969, there was no such thing as a “Crime Scene Cleaner”; that label would be made up by Hollywood for films such as “Sunshine Cleaning” and Samuel L. Jackson’s “The Cleaner”, both released in 2007. In 1969, all that the gentleman knew was that my father cleaned things; what my father knew was, someone was hurting, and he could help.

My father’s approach to all cleaning scenarios was based on the science of cleaning and the fact that all good cleaners ask themselves the same questions for every project: what am I cleaning and why? And what are the contaminants? Knowing that the scene would be contaminated with proteins and lipids and would require post cleaning disinfecting, my father loaded his van with everything he thought he might need and headed out. When my father arrived in his old Ford van, complete with a fresh paint job, but still unlettered, there were two plain clothes detectives still on site waiting for the medical examiner’s vehicle to remove the deceased from the scene. As my father approached the house, one of the detectives stopped him and asked if he was a family member.