A Pella Police Officer killed in the line of duty 38 years ago was remembered on the his anniversary of his death.

Each year, a memorial is posted in front of the Pella Police Department to remember the sacrifice of John Ernest Van Haaften. He served for just over two years at the department when he was killed during an undercover drug bust in Knoxville on April 9th, 1980.

Last year, his daughter, Tricia Van Zee and husband Lance traveled to Washington D.C. to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Tricia told KNIA/KRLS News last spring it was her first time at the site since she was a senior in high school.

“I would say we were there for two hours, and I would say for the first hour was very teary for me, and the second hour was full of great pride and honor, and I found myself engaging the people that were around — I wanted to know their story,” she says.

She says her father loved the community and to serve and protect the public, as the many officers around the country do every day, as well as those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“My dad loved being a police officer,” she says. “It’s not anything you go into mildly, and so everyone in that role, it’s not their intent to be the bad guy, their intent is to protect us from the bad guy.”

Sheryl Hanthorn was married to Van Haaften and had started a family before his passing, and she hopes people remember John for his character.

“John had fire in his bones,” she says. “He was energetic, he was ornery, he had the brownest eyes that flashed with orneriness, he never did something halfway, he put 100% energy and passion into the things that he did.”

She has since established the John E. Van Haaften memorial scholarship, which is given to a Pella or Pella Christian senior during the Dollars for Scholars awards nights.