A Blair County officer is being remembered after cancer claimed his life on the job this weekend. 

Officer John Flinn served as a police officer in for nearly 40 years. 

Lisa Buchanan says her dad wore his badge proudly for Logan Township and Freedom Township Police Departments. 

She’s creating a scholarship for aspiring officers in his name. 

“He’s a police officer through and through, I think it came out in his personality and he was committed to this town and this area and just wanted to make it a safe place for everyone.”

Flinn died while on the job Saturday for Freedom Township. 

His daughter says had been battling cancer. Police Chief Terry Dellinger says police work was Flinn’s passion.

“He came in as usual, approximately a half an hour early his joyful, cheerful self, always with a smile.”

Officer Flinn was well known by several officers across the county.

“Prior to law enforcement I was one of the guys John used to chase around. So I used to get stopped by John back in my younger mischievous days,” remembers Duncansville Police Chief, James Ott. 

He’s remembered as a great role model for many.

“and then when I come on the job he was one of the guys you looked up to that did a lot of work with the community and with the younger officers,” explained Ott. 

The John Flinn Police Academy fund will be for an aspiring officer that is passionate about the job.

Chief Dellinger says Flinn would be surprised by the honor..

“He would be overwhelmed with it but yet embarssed so to speak because he was a humble person that would not expect like that. He just did it because that’s what he loved doing, the service to the community.”

Lisa says she’s proud of all the work her dad did in the line of duty.

“Very honored, I mean knew he was a great dad to begin with right? but hearing all these stories about how fair he was how he just treated people like people that means a lot.”

Donations for the John Flinn Police Academy Fund can be sent to FOP Mountain Lodge #8, PO Box 121, Altoona, PA, 16603.