A Pella Police Officer killed in the line of duty 39 years ago was remembered on the 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.

His daughter, Tricia Van Zee, is among the leaders of the recently-formed Pella Youth Coalition, and 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.