Next summer, Kenneth J. Johnson and his wife Mary can watch the Fourth of July fireworks together for the first time, as well as stand together on the sidewalk to watch the annual Edgartown Fourth of July parade.

Mr. Johnson, 56, retired last month after 29 years as a sergeant with the Edgartown Police Department. And for every one of those years he was on duty during the Fourth of July parade and fireworks.

Police chief Antone Bettencourt praised his colleague of many years. “He was an exemplary police officer,” he said. “In his investigative work he was thorough and set a standard for other officers. He worked hand in hand with the FBI, the secret service, state police and district attorney’s office. For years, up until he retired, in court he was our police department prosecutor.”

“He will be sorely missed,” Chief Bettencourt added.

Mr. Johnson grew up in Watertown. “People often will complain about the traffic here in the summer. It was like that every day in Watertown,” he said. “I like small town policing,” he added.

Mr. Johnson reflected back on the early years of his career.

“I was hired by George Searle,” he said. At the time, the police station was located on Church street, where today there is an information center, restrooms and bus stop. There were about 12 people in the department back then, plus two police cruisers and one unmarked car.

Today the staff is about double, and the station has relocated to Pease's Point Way. The department has five marked vehicles, three unmarked cars and even a boat.

“It has been a very good career,” Mr. Johnson said. “I met a lot of really nice guys and girls.”

The biggest changes, he said, came with the arrival of the computer age. “There were no computers when I started. We had case cards.”

Mary Johnson runs a small daycare program out of their home. She said the kids refer to her husband affectionately as “Uncle Ken.”

Mrs. Johnson remarked on her husband’s sense of humor, a straight line type of style that isn’t overtly noticeable.

“Sometimes, they’ll walk away and think about it... and then they’ll get it,” she said.

And what lies ahead?

“I haven’t decided yet,” Mr. Johnson said. For now he is working on the house. Days after retiring, he began scraping the outside trim of his house in preparation for painting.

During Sergeant Johnson’s last few weeks on the job he worked with the secret service to protect the President while he was on vacation here. And on Friday, August 1, the sergeant joined some of his colleagues in the Edgartown police honor guard, when they marched onto the Fenway Park field at the start of a Red Sox game against the Yankees. The Red Sox won 4 to 3.