PROVINCETOWN — Services for Donald John Thomas, best known as Provincetown’s legendary “Dancing Cop,” will begin on Friday, Jan. 17.
Thomas died peacefully in his favorite chair at home in Eastham on the morning of Dec. 7, 2019. He was 92 years old.
Family and friends are invited to call on the family at the Gately Funeral Home, 94 Harry Kemp Way, Provincetown on Jan. 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at St. Peter the Apostle Church on Prince St. A family burial at St. Peter’s Cemetery will be held in the spring.
The family is having a potluck reception at the Governor Bradford Restaurant, 312 Commercial St., Provincetown at noon following the Saturday Mass.
Thomas was born the third of five children on 8 Freeman St. in Provincetown and began his unpaid position as an auxiliary police officer in the late 1940s. Eventually hired as a summer patrol officer in the 1970s, he was usually assigned to the busiest and most dangerous intersection in town, Lopes Square. There he developed his captivating dance to the tune of his British whistle. He insisted he was not so much dancing as practicing “self-preservation.”
In lieu of flowers, family members are asking for donations to help pay for his memorial services and a memorial bench in Lopes Square by searching for “Dancing Cop” at gofundme.com.
An online guest book for expressions of condolence for the family may be found at gatelyfuneralservice.com.
