Tom Emery was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England on June 29, 1929. As he grew up he had a strong desire to travel. He decided to see the world and went first to Australia, where he may have been a police officer in South Australia. Then he moved on to Canada spending some time in Calgary before coming east. At some point he was a military policeman, although the details are not known. In Tom’s spare time he had served with the Governor General’s Horse Guards.

Emery joined the Ontario Provincial Police on October 23, 1961. As a single man he moved around a bit, first to Kenora and then Fort Frances and later Lindsay before coming to work in traffic at Downsview on March 15, 1964. Along the way he took motorcycle training.

On July 25, 1966 at 4:12 p.m., Constable Emery was patrolling on the busiest roadway in Canada, Highway 401. He was in traffic following a Labatt’s brewery trailer and another trailer was parallel to him in the passing lane. The beer truck driver saw a metal bar on the pavement and swerved to avoid it. Emery could not see the obstruction until he rode over it and the jarring the bike received was enough to throw him into the air and he was run over by the trailer in the passing lane.

The Civitan Club of Toronto honoured Tom Emery’s memory by giving a trophy annually for several years to an outstanding Downsview member.

His mother who traveled from England to attend the police funeral survived Tom.