Robert Moulton was a mountain of a man, and he leaves behind a mountain of a legacy, his loved ones said.

After 44 years of service to the town of Scarborough, the retired police chief died of cancer at 69 on April 26.

At his memorial service May 8 in the Scarborough Public Safety Building — a building he was instrumental in creating — it seemed the whole town was mourning. There weren’t enough chairs to accommodate the hundreds of people gathered on the sunny morning to honor Moulton’s life and his 44 years of service to Scarborough.

Those who shared stories about Moulton spoke of his legacy both within and outside the police department — a legacy that will continue for generations.

If he is to be remembered for one thing, it should be for his love, according to retired Scarborough fire chief and longtime friend Mike Thurlow. Moulton loved his family, his innumerable friends, the police department, the town and the people of Scarborough, Thurlow said.

The two former chiefs went to high school together and have been friends since. They joined the fire and police departments at the same time, and their friendship deepened throughout their public safety careers before they retired a few months apart.

Thurlow wondered how one person could have so many best friends. Moulton had hundreds of them, but he cared deeply about each and every one, Thurlow said.

“We all felt like we were his best and closest friend when we were with him,” Thurlow said at the service.

Moulton was simultaneously “Chief Moulton” and “just Robbie.”

He commanded the attention of everyone in the room the moment he walked in, and people gravitated toward him because of his presence and leadership.

But Moulton also loved his officers like family.

“He was always one of us,” Joe Thornton, emergency communications manager, said. “He was always just Robbie.”

Sometimes, it seemed like Moulton forgot he was chief, Thornton said, and he had a fantastic sense of humor.

He would come to retired Deputy Chief Marla St. Pierre’s office sometimes just to move things around on her desk. He liked to mess around with his friend at the dispatch center. He let two officers dump ice over his head while he was dressed in a suit for the Ice Bucket Challenge. He made his officers shave their heads for cancer awareness but then tried to get out of it by saying he’d only do it if St. Pierre did it too. (They both ended up shaving their heads.)

He also took care of his officers when they were hurt or sick.

Whenever St. Pierre woke up in the hospital, she’d always see him sitting at the foot of her bed, she said.

When retired Deputy Chief John O’Malley’s mother died during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was heartbroken that only 14 people would be allowed to attend the funeral. But when he arrived at the grave, he looked to the side and saw Moulton standing a little bit away with a whole group of officers.

Moulton’s love extended beyond the doors of the public safety building.

St. Pierre remembers when Moulton would come to her office — standing 6 feet 3 inches tall, he took up the entire doorway — and said, “let’s go for a ride.”

When Moulton had something serious to talk about, he liked to do it outside the building, so the two of them got in a car and drove aimlessly around town. As they talked, he pointed out landmark — where his mother lived, where his family grew up, a house where a homicide occurred, the road where a man they’d arrested lived.

He knew and loved every inch of the town — and the people who lived there.

After an incident involving an Outlaw motorcycle gang ended unexpectedly peacefully thanks to a friendly conversation between O’Malley and the president of the gang, Moulton called the president from the station to thank him.

“He made friends with our worst enemies, and forever they’d be our best friends after that,”  O’Malley said.

 O’Malley and other officers said they will pass down the lessons they learned from Moulton for generations.

When Scarborough Police Chief Mark Holmquist succeeded Moulton in 2021, he told the Press Herald, “I’m following a legend.”

He and Scarborough Fire Chief Rich Kindelan said they still feel that way, continuing on the legacies of Moulton and Thurlow.

“We’ve fallen into the shadows of giants,” Holmquist said.

44 YEARS OF SERVICE

After graduating from Scarborough High School, Moulton began working at the Scarborough Police Department in 1977 as a reserve police officer assigned to foot patrol at Higgins Beach. He attended the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 1979, worked as a youth aid officer, was involved in the creation of the Southern Maine Task Force, and was involved in many boards and associations.

He was promoted to detective in 1981, then to patrol sergeant in 1984, lieutenant in 1986, captain in 1994, and finally chief of police in 1999. He served as fourth police chief in the department’s history for 22 years before retiring in 2021.

In 1987, Moulton attended the 150th session of the FBI National Academy, a training program for law enforcement personnel. Fewer than 1% of law enforcement officers worldwide are selected to participate in the program, O’Malley said.

When he came back, Moulton encouraged others to attend the academy. The state of Maine can only send one person per session, O’Malley said, and thanks to Moulton, 11 officers from the Scarborough Police Department have graduated from the program. That’s more than any other department in the state, he said.

Moulton also served as the president of the New England Chapter of FBI National Academy graduates.

In 2015, Moulton launched Operation HOPE in Scarborough so people struggling with substance abuse issues could enter the police station and get help. In 2023, the operation transitioned to the Portland Recovery Center.

At the time, St. Pierre said there was more stigma surrounding substance use issues, and only Moulton had the guts to champion the operation and convince the entire police department to participate.

“He cared about every single one of those people that walked through the door the same way he cared about us,” Thornton said.

In 2021, one of the first people who went through Operation HOPE came back to the police station to thank Moulton. He was employed and sober thanks to the program, and when he was reunited with Moulton, they hugged each other and cried.

“The crazy part of all of this is that this is one millionth of who the man was,” Thornton said. “This would have set the legacy for one person, but this is one thing of a million.

In 2017, Moulton and Thurlow helped create a new public safety building, which opened in 2020.

It made sense that his friends and family got the chance to say goodbye to Moulton in the building he helped build, friends said.

“I didn’t expect that when I came in on Monday, the building felt different,” Thornton said the week after Moulton’s death. “I mean, he hasn’t been in the building for four years. That’s the impact he had. He wasn’t even in the building and yet he was here.”

When Moulton started his career, people called the police station on payphones, and they used typewriters and punch cards. Moulton revolutionized the police department, his friends said. He was ahead of his time, and he was always on the cutting edge of technology.

“The rest of the world waits for permission,” Thornton said. “He just did it.”

In 2019, he got a comfort dog named Marlea-Grace to provide emotional support for the officers, and they quickly became inseparable.

‘MORE THAN AN IMPRESSIVE CAREER’

Susan Moulton was 33 when she first met Moulton at a Christmas party after their respective coworkers tried to set them up.

She called her mother the next morning.

“Mom, I think I met the man,” she told her.

Susan initially turned Moulton down a few times because she was dating someone else at the time, but she eventually accepted to get lunch with him in February 1995.

Susan was new to Scarborough, so Moulton drove her around to show her the town. She instantly knew that he loved the town he was born and lived in.

“He knew every person and every road,” she said.

Susan later met Moulton’s two sons, and they got married in 1998.

He was her rock, her anchor, her softer side, Susan said.

Susan called him the mini mayor of Scarborough, because he knew everyone, and everyone knew him.

Moulton was just as loved outside the public safety building as he was within. His life was so much more than an impressive career, Thurlow said, and work-life balance was extremely important to him.

And he really loved his lake.

During his childhood, Moulton spent his summers at his family’s lake house at Little Sebago Lake in Gray. In 2006, Susan and Moulton moved there full time.

The lake house became the hub of the neighborhood. Its doors were always open to friends and neighbors to hang out or watch whatever football game was on TV.

He wanted to be the first one in the water each year, so he’d go for a swim on the ice-out date even if there were large chunks of ice still floating around.

Moulton’s ashes would be returned to the lake he dearly loved, Susan said at the memorial service.

“From the end of the dock, looking over the lake, I’ll know you’re just beyond the shore,” she said.