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SALT LAKE CITY — Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park is where Calvin Chipman Clegg and his cousin Claron Spencer can visit their family anytime they want.
"It's what it's all about, really. We can't afford to forget who we are," Spencer said.
On Tuesday, the cousins met up at the cemetery on Highland Drive for a special event: A memorial service to honor the late Sam Cowley.
Cowley, a former FBI agent, is Clegg and Spencer’s uncle. But to America, he's so much more — even 83 years after his death.
"Why don't we surround his resting place here," retired FBI agent Juan Becerra said as the group gathered. "We honor him for the kind of man that he was."
Cowley died while working for the FBI.
"Sam was coincidently killed in a shootout as he and 'Baby Face' Nelson killed each other in an open cornfield in Illinois,” Clegg said. “At the time that he died, gangs were taking over the U.S. — John Dillinger, 'Baby Face' Nelson, 'Machine Gun' Kelly — all the notorious ones."
Cowley, who studied agriculture at Utah State University, tracked Lester Joseph Gillis, better known as 'Baby Face' Nelson, to Chicago. There was a car chase and a shootout, ultimately ending in the deaths of both Nelson and Cowley.
J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI at the time, had appointed Cowley to go after the gangs.
“(Cowley was) considered by Hoover as one of his most trustworthy — if not the most trustworthy — agent he had to lead the major investigation at that time," Clegg said. "He meant a lot to the director, to the FBI, and he meant a lot to our family."
Clegg and Spencer became FBI agents after hearing stories about their uncle, and, on the anniversary of his death, they paused to remember.
"We're three generations now as a result of his work," Spencer said. "The legacy just continues on in so many ways."
Contributing: Xoel Cardenas, KSL.com
