Thomas Edward Harrison

My dad, Thomas Edward Harrison, was born in 1934 in rural Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. While Tom’s father, my Grandpa Ed, was serving in the Canadian Navy, and later the Canadian Air Force, my dad spent his first six years living with his grandmother in Vancouver.

When he was twelve, the family moved to Los Angeles, where my dad had a paper route near the LA Coliseum. This was Grandpa Ed’s second time at the Coliseum, having thrown the shot put as a Canadian athlete in the 1932 Olympics. My dad graduated from high school while in Los Angeles, and then enlisted in the US Army as a paratrooper, where they helped him become a US Citizen.

Upon discharge, Dad rented a room in Santa Ana and enrolled at Santa Ana College, where he was elected Class President, Vice President of the Veterans Club, and Head Cheerleader. While at college, he was recruited by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and on November 9th, 1959, he became a Deputy Sheriff, Badge #158.

My dad met his wife, and my mom, Jackie, who had spent a brief stint as an Orange County Jail Matron. They were married in 1961 and I was born later that year, with my brother Steve joining the family in 1962. Dad’s early career was spent as a bailiff in the historic Orange County Courthouse, but he moved to patrol while mom was pregnant with me, and then became an investigator in 1963.

A promotion to Sergeant sent him to the Academy in November 1970, where he served as the Tactical Sergeant, his favorite assignment as a peace officer. As with all “favorite things” it didn’t last, and he became an Investigative Sergeant in Narcotics. His successes there led to a promotion to Lieutenant in 1974, where he served as the Watch Commander of the Men’s Jail. Not long after passing promotional probation, he returned to the Sheriff’s Academy as the Training Lieutenant.

In 1981, he received a promotion to Captain and was assigned first over Records, and then as Division Commander over Training. He received many awards and accolades during his career, but was most proud of completing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy in 1984. He retired from service in January 1990, just over thirty years after he began his law enforcement career.

After five years of traveling, my parents spent the next ten years as disaster service volunteers with the American Red Cross. They served in 33 major disasters, including the 9/11 attack in New York.

My dad’s family lost his youngest son, my brother Steve, to a lifelong disease in 2016. Dad lost his wife and my mother in 2021. We lost my dad, Captain Tom Harrison, to congestive heart failure on December 22, 2024. He was 90 years old. He is survived by me, his eldest son Ed, my wife Sherry, and his grandson Andrew. The family may be reached at [email protected], PO Box 148, Wrightwood, CA 92397.