Roll of Honor
Incident
Sheriff Mason suffered a fatal heart attack while attempting to rescue several miners who had been trapped in a mine during a severe snowstorm.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-CO-83DCA379- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Sheriff Mason served with the San Juan County Sheriff's Office.
Thank you for your service to the Silverton community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sheriff Mason.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Sheriff Virgil Mason is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In CO, 11 of 360 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 3.1% of this state's fallen. That is 0.9 percentage points below the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Virgil Mason's cause is highlighted.
How Virgil Mason Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Virgil Mason is highlighted in Dec.