LA HABRA : Ex-Police Chief Gets Retirement Badge

Former Police Chief Walden (Wally) Whittemore has finally received his retirement badge--39 years after leaving the department.

It was not until recently that police officials realized Whittemore was never given a retirement badge.

Whittemore, 83, retired from the police force in 1954 after serving in the department for 11 years as an officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and chief. At a ceremony in his honor recently, Whittemore was given the badge, a replica of his duty badge mounted on a plaque.

“I think it was very commendable that the department was able to rectify this longstanding oversight,” Capt. John Rees said.

When he was chief, Whittemore said, the Police Department offered no retirement benefits, so he decided to open a feed store to make more money.

“It was a pretty quiet time when I was chief,” he said. “We never had a single holdup, and we had maybe two or three residential burglaries. When I left the department, I didn’t get anything, and it’s really kind of good for an old guy who is almost 100 to get recognition like this.”

Whittemore has lived in the city with his wife, Margaret, for more than 60 years. They have two children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

“My dad deserves the recognition,” said Whittemore’s daughter, Jo Ann Wilson. “I think anybody that leaves a job of that type should get recognition. And although the times were quiet then, keeping the peace is a hard job.”

Wilson gave the Police Department photographs of Whittemore in uniform after it asked the community to help find old photos and memorabilia to decorate the walls once the remodeling of the department is complete in October. That’s how officials discovered that Whittemore never received a proper retirement send-off, Rees said.

Whittemore said that he and his wife plan to move to Arkansas soon.

“I’ll display my badge in my new house and let everybody know that I ran La Habra for a while,” he said.