Your act of kindness altered the trajectory of my life.
We both were hired to work a Yacht Club party that got rained out. You were there to protect the party goers from trouble. I was there to keep them from drowning. We sat in your squad car for five hours waiting for the rain to break. Thankfully, it never did. During all that time we developed a bond and became fast friends.
You and Betty invited me into your home and introduced me to your children. I believe you wanted to show me a police officers life and the good things that can follow if you work hard and keep yourself squared away like a good Marine. Perhaps the invitation was a bit of a test or some type of Jim Siebenmark vetting for me. I was touched by your generosity and openness.
You invited me to apply at SJPD and offered advice on how and what I should do to get hired. It worked and I became a patrolman on your department. You started me on a career that led to the best job I ever had in my life and I will always be in your debt for doing so.
When I admired the Expert badge for Pistol marksmanship on your uniform you coached and advised me on how to earn one of my own. Now that I look back on things, you were always setting the bar high and providing an example for me to work for and live up to. Now that I am retired, I teach people how to shoot and use the advice and "Siebenmark methods" you shared with me. So, you continue to live on in my life and the lives of others.
I thank you for being my friend, my coach, my mentor and a long lost brother that I never had. You were the very best of us and one perfectly splendid human being. It was my honor to know you, to call you my friend and to have you shape the direction of my life.
I remain forever in your debt kind sir.
Jan H. Edwards
Dallas, TX
