HUPD Officer James P. Sullivan said he met Pierce in the late 60s when he patrolled Longwood, and went to eat lunch in the cafeteria at the Children’s Hospital where Pierce was working as a security guard.

“I made regular visits,” said Sullivan, who joined HUPD in 1966. “He and I were very good friends. He’s a man of solid character, a man of principle. He’s got a lot of dignity about himself. And I feel the same way today, even though we buried him.”

When Pierce decided to apply for a job with HUPD, he asked Sullivan for a reference. Sullivan readily agreed.

“The thing I’ll always remember is that he showed great consideration for his fellow workers,” he said. “He did a lot of little things that really made a difference”.

Sullivan said Pierce used to show him poems he would write on the side.

“The thing he loved to do was sit down and write little poems, just general poems about life” he said. “Once in a while when he had some thoughts he would try to put them on paper.”

Sullivan added that a few of Pierce’s poems were read aloud at his funeral Tuesday.

Pierce wrote an e-mail to all of HUPD on Aug. 12, entitled “The Last Ride Home,” in which he reminisced about his time as an officer and anticipated his retirement.

“You might think that this would be a time of great joy for me,” Pierce wrote.

“However, I know that this will be a time of great sadness for me instead...I have always prided myself with being there for my brother and sister officers and the Harvard community when needed.”

He wrote that he realized his cancer was getting worse, and that he didn’t consider his future “promising.”

“One thing that I have confidence in is that when I meet ‘God’ and he asks me if I have done my duty to my family, friends and community, I can answer that with the exception of a few mistakes, I have done my duty,” Pierce wrote. “I leave it up to you now to take over where I left off and do your duty with compassion and the spirit of giving to all those that you meet in life.”

Pierce, an only child, lived in Natick for the last 28 years. He served with the Army Reserves from 1963-1969.

Pierce is survived by his wife of 39 years, Helen, his son, David, and his daughter, Dianne.

A funeral service was held on Tuesday in Natick.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.