Hooksett resident Sandy Oliver admitted that her late husband Jim wasn’t the type of man who would voluntarily consent to a building being named in his honor.

But, she said, since he did serve as the Hooksett police chief for almost 30 years, the name of the town’s safety center – now the James H. Oliver Safety Center – is nothing if not fitting.

“It’s a lot more than just a building,” she said. “It’s very special to both of us. He gave 29 years to this town and does he deserve to have this building named after him? Absolutely.”

A lot more than just a building is right. After all, the safety center, which was completed in 1998, was the reason Sandy and Jim Oliver got to know each other in the first place.

While Sandy Oliver, a former Town Council member, was charged with heading a council committee to convince voters to approve the $2.5 million safety center complex in the mid-’90s, James Oliver was still serving as police chief. The safety center was approved by four votes; construction wrapped in 1998 and the Olivers married in 2000.

“He was such a wonderful man,” Sandy Oliver said. “He had such a sense of humor. He could make anyone laugh.” Shortly after Oliver’s death in March 2007, Hooksett officials agreed to name the safety center after the man who served as the town’s police chief from 1979 to 1998.

Hooksett Police Chief Stephen Agrafiotis said the new name stands for all the ideals that James Oliver stood for when he led the department.

“He was very professional,” Agrafiotis said. “To him, it was about integrity, service to community and honesty. There was no deviation from that.”

Agrafiotis agreed with Sandy Oliver that her husband would have certainly had a laugh over the building’s new name. “Sure enough, he would have said, ‘You’ve overdone it this time,’” he laughed.