Page 33 - December 2020

Guadalupe “Lupe” Lopez was a beloved dispatch- er at the Office
of Emergency Management and Communications for Zone 10, which covered the 10th and 11th Districts.
Eyes in the Skies
Legendary dispatcher Lupe Lopez tragically lost his battle to COVID-19 in November, but his powerful influence will forever
be with the Chicago Police Department and beyond.
n BY KAREN JENKINS
ICU brother. Love you.
Juan Paez instinctively typed a message back. He wanted to share a quip with Guadalupe “Lupe” Lopez Jr., like the hundreds they’d exchanged before.
For a moment, he had almost forgotten.
Paez’s eyes flooded with hot tears after reading the text he received on Nov. 11. When he realized those
were the last words he would ever hear from
Lopez, it felt like he’d lost him all over again.
He’s tried to tell stories about his friend ev- ery day since Nov. 16, when 58-year-old Lopez died from COVID-19, only to be met with be- reaved gut punches. He’s wrestled with numb- ness, shock and even a touch of guilt.
Three weeks ago, Paez, who has 12 years on in the 10th District, lay on a bed in his base- ment, fighting COVID-19 as Lopez simulta- neously lay on a cot at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn.
Lopez would text photos and messages in his final days. When they both reached the one-week mark of fighting the virus, Paez sent a word of encouragement: Come on, man. We’ve got one week so far, let’s get out of this.
The response, a sobering declaration:
No, I feel bad.
Lopez sent a picture of himself in a mask,
right before going on a ventilator. Soon after,
Paez received that last message he would ever hear from him.
Now, he’s keeping Lopez’s memory alive. But how could he possibly wrap up the unbelievable qualities of the most com- passionate man he’s ever met in a 30-minute conversation?
How could he crystallize Lopez’s monumental impact on Chica- go Police Officers throughout his 33-year career that made him revered throughout the Department?
“I mean, there’s so many stories about Lupe,” Paez expressed. “We could be sitting here for hours talking about him.”
But he knows that his closest friend, who was like a brother, deserves the recognition for his accomplishments as a telecom- municator in Zone 10, covering the 10th and 11th Districts, for
the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC).
Paez wants to talk about every memory showing who Lopez was as a father, a hus- band and a friend, ensuring that the Chicago Police Department’s eyes in the sky will never be forgotten.
‘He would drop everything’
“OK, here we go,” the legend of Zone 10 alerted into the radio.
As the Chicago Bulls clinched their sixth championship in 1998 and the city erupted into chaos, Lopez jumped into action during his cherished midnight shift.
Shots fired. Man with a gun. Head north.
Lupe injected his notorious sense of calm into the havoc amid the celebration by effort- lessly guiding officers through a path of safe- ty. The Little Village native utilized an uncan- ny breadth of knowledge about the city that seemingly only he had.
“Within seconds, both [the 10th and 11th Districts] blew up,” recalled Hector Alfaro, who was near Mount Sinai Hospital working his third Bulls championship that night in the 11th Dis-
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CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2020 33
In Memoriam
Guadalupe Lopez Jr.
CPD Dispatcher
End of Watch: Nov. 16, 2020