Looking back is something that people my age probably do too much of, so in spite of how it must look to some of you, I fight doing that. When you lose someone that played a pivotal part of your past, if you are like me, you just can't help doing it again.
August 18th such a man from my early years passed on. His name is Jeffery Hames. He and his brother Dennis were the older cousins of a close friend of mine. They both went off and did military service, Dennis first and his brother Jeff joining in 1966 and returning my freshman year in college. Jeff married and joined the police dept.
He and his brother both liked motorcycles, but never raced. They supported the local club and shared starting duties and Jeff worked to keep things friendly with the law enforcement agencies. I didn't really realize how important they were to the community, I just knew I liked having two large guys with friendly faces show up seemingly on cue. Both had hot cars of the era, too.
Jeff saw me through some times of adjustment, and my activities kept him in work it seemed a little too often, as time went on. Anyway, after going on to a university and redirecting some of my energy he and I could become better friends. Before leaving for Alaska in 1974 I saw him again and we talked about a whole lot of things in a short period. One was that his job had become different (police patrolman) even in the 4 years he was there. I got the impression without him admitting it that he was questioning whether he would be quick enough at pulling the trigger if he was confronted by an armed suspect. Lord, did he have the skills. The desire was questionable. It wasn't so much if he had to defend others, but in his own defense, the questions seemed to be there. That was him though. I had to recall how quickly he thought of others. His cousin and I put him into quite a few moments you would have thought would have just been so embarassing for him that he would have lost all concern for us. Two of the times we did that put us both in quite a bit of danger and could have and should have ended in us getting arrested. Neither time did he mention that, but you could see how concerned he was that both of us could have paid some really big consequences. I think of how brave policemen and policewomen are who probably face the same question as he did every day, but go out and keep things safe for the rest of us.
Anyway, Jeff did stay on, moving to a bigger department in a bigger city. Doing the "swat" work, settling into canine. Patient cops who love dogs seem to do well with that. He worked that side until he was about 50 and then retired and went on to spend 15 years working with at risk youth in the southern Oregon region.
If I could thank him now he would probably make a joke about how his cousin and I made him better at his first job and prepared him with some OJT for the second one.
God speed to a great guy, and I guess I should call his brother Dennis and tell him if that if he ever misses slapping his little brother around that I would be honored to fill in.
August 18th such a man from my early years passed on. His name is Jeffery Hames. He and his brother Dennis were the older cousins of a close friend of mine. They both went off and did military service, Dennis first and his brother Jeff joining in 1966 and returning my freshman year in college. Jeff married and joined the police dept.
He and his brother both liked motorcycles, but never raced. They supported the local club and shared starting duties and Jeff worked to keep things friendly with the law enforcement agencies. I didn't really realize how important they were to the community, I just knew I liked having two large guys with friendly faces show up seemingly on cue. Both had hot cars of the era, too.
Jeff saw me through some times of adjustment, and my activities kept him in work it seemed a little too often, as time went on. Anyway, after going on to a university and redirecting some of my energy he and I could become better friends. Before leaving for Alaska in 1974 I saw him again and we talked about a whole lot of things in a short period. One was that his job had become different (police patrolman) even in the 4 years he was there. I got the impression without him admitting it that he was questioning whether he would be quick enough at pulling the trigger if he was confronted by an armed suspect. Lord, did he have the skills. The desire was questionable. It wasn't so much if he had to defend others, but in his own defense, the questions seemed to be there. That was him though. I had to recall how quickly he thought of others. His cousin and I put him into quite a few moments you would have thought would have just been so embarassing for him that he would have lost all concern for us. Two of the times we did that put us both in quite a bit of danger and could have and should have ended in us getting arrested. Neither time did he mention that, but you could see how concerned he was that both of us could have paid some really big consequences. I think of how brave policemen and policewomen are who probably face the same question as he did every day, but go out and keep things safe for the rest of us.
Anyway, Jeff did stay on, moving to a bigger department in a bigger city. Doing the "swat" work, settling into canine. Patient cops who love dogs seem to do well with that. He worked that side until he was about 50 and then retired and went on to spend 15 years working with at risk youth in the southern Oregon region.
If I could thank him now he would probably make a joke about how his cousin and I made him better at his first job and prepared him with some OJT for the second one.
God speed to a great guy, and I guess I should call his brother Dennis and tell him if that if he ever misses slapping his little brother around that I would be honored to fill in.
