Mercier EMT Awarded Corporal Eugene Cole Scholarship

A Mercier man received a scholarship over the weekend, in the name of fallen Somerset County Sheriff's Corporal Eugene Cole.

Aaron Gordon was awarded the $2,000 scholarship from the family of Corporal Cole. He has worked with the Farmington and Norridgewock Fire Departments, and as an emergency medical technician (EMT-B) with Redington Fairview General Hospital EMS and Delta Ambulance. The money will be used to help Gordon further his emergency medical services education, as he works to become a paramedic.

"I would be truly honored to receive funding  from a place that memorializes everything (Cpl. Cole) stood for," Gordon said in his application for the award, "and to be able to help to continue protecting and caring for the community that he himself took as his personal responsibility to protect."

The Cole family surprised Gordon with the announcement during a brief ceremony at the Norridgewock fire station on the day set aside to remember Gene Cole. Coverage of the private ceremony was shared on Facebook.

The Corporal Eugene Cole Scholarship Fund was established in 2019 as a way for Eugene's family, friends, and law enforcement brothers and sisters to continue his passion for the field. The scholarship supports residents of Somerset county seeking post-graduate study to pursue a career in the field of law enforcement.