WASHINGTON D.C. — A beloved, four-legged member of the Greenfield community will be known beyond Franklin County after being included in a new mural at one of the nation’s legislative buildings.

According to Deputy Police Chief William Gordon, the photographer who captured a photo of the department’s late comfort dog Clarence and President Joe Biden at the U.S. Capitol two years ago recently called to share that an image of the 11-year-old Saint Bernard is part of a new mural on the Longworth House Office Building used by the U.S. House of Representatives.

“It was a surprise to me,” Gordon said of the news. He explained that the photographer, Kristie Baxter, was part of the committee that helped design the mural. “Unfortunately, he died over a year ago, but to know his legacy lives on — not only in that [mural, but through] police comfort dogs all over the nation ...”

In April 2021, Gordon and Clarence were invited by K-9 First Responders, a group he and his comfort dogs have been a member of for several years, to spend a week in the nation’s capital, where he attended services for slain Capitol police officer William “Billy” Evans. The dogs and their handlers provide mental health support and comfort to those who need it.

Evans, who grew up in Adams and worked at the Capitol for 18 years, was killed on April 2, 2021, when a driver slammed his vehicle into the north barricade of the Capitol complex, hitting Evans and another officer and then crashing into a barrier. The suspect, 25-year-old Noah Green, was shot by another officer and later died.

“We got to visit his kids after the funeral,” Gordon said of Evans’ family. “It was the one time that they were actually able to smile throughout the day. Even though it was a sad event, Clarence brought a lot of smiles to the people he visited.”

He was a special dog, Gordon said. More than that, Clarence was his partner.

“We miss him. He definitely changed our lives as well as the lives of others,” he said.

Clarence comforted first responders in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in Boston after the marathon bombing in 2013, in Las Vegas one year after the 2017 mass shooting at a music festival, and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. Through his travels, Clarence also inspired police, fire and ambulance services to launch their own comfort dog programs.

“He’s changed law enforcement,” Gordon said. “There are comfort dogs all over the nation. He really blazed the path for that to happen.”

Clarence, who was euthanized in July 2022 after a period of declining health, has been nominated for an award that may see Gordon traveling to Washington D.C. next spring, where he’ll have a chance to visit the mural in person.

“It makes me look back and be proud of him, and what he was able to do for this country,” Gordon said. “All I did was hold the leash. He did the magic.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.