Officer honored 81 years after death

TACOMA – A Tacoma police officer killed in the line of duty more than 80 years ago has been recognized for his service with a long-awaited headstone placed at his grave.

William Wickman, 30, died in a motorcycle accident in 1925 while chasing a speeding motorist. His young widow was caring for the couple’s two daughters, ages 4 and 9, when Wickman died and didn’t have money for a grave marker.

At a memorial service Friday, three dozen Tacoma police officers, city officials and Wickman’s family huddled together as an engraved black granite stone was placed at his graveside at Oakwood Hill Cemetery.

“Now, we have a beautiful stone memorial,” Kay Kenison, one of Wickman’s two granddaughters, told the audience. “We are just really honored at this whole thing and really appreciative.”

The service was punctuated by a 21-gun salute from the Police Department’s honor guard, and a bugler played taps. Police Chief Don Ramsdell presented Kenison with a folded American flag.

“I am just so sorry my mom and aunt are not around anymore,” said Russ Ratcliffe, one of Wickman’s grandsons. Wickman’s oldest daughter, Lois, died in 2000; his youngest, Dolores, last year.

Wickman’s was one of four names engraved on a wooden plaque hanging in the Tacoma Police Department in 1986 when officer and police historian Erik Timothy found it. He’d been researching the department when he learned the four officers had been killed in the line of duty.

Timothy’s research started slow because most police personnel records from before World War II had been lost in a fire, and Wickman’s death wasn’t in official police records or in newspaper archives.

He eventually learned the plaque listed the wrong date for Wickman’s death. Using two newspaper articles he compiled details of Wickman’s short police career.

Wickman joined the Tacoma Police Department on Oct. 23, 1924, working as a relief patrolman and prowl car officer. He later joined the motorcycle division.

On Aug. 9, 1925, Wickman was heading north on what is now South Tacoma Way in pursuit of a speeding vehicle. Another car headed in the opposite direction turned left in front of Wickman.

The motorcycle hit the car’s passenger side, and Wickman was thrown onto the hood, his head hitting the windshield frame.

“There was no protective gear” back then, Timothy said. “No police training, no motorcycle training.”

Two passing drivers took Wickman to Tacoma General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver was cleared of any wrongdoing in Wickman’s death.

Timothy wanted to place a headstone at the grave as a way of honoring Wickman’s life and service to the city. With Ramsdell’s approval, he designed the marker, the cost of which was donated by Tacoma Monument.

The stone incorporates a sample of the star-shaped police badge Wickman wore when he was an officer and today’s oval-shaped badge.

“While Motorcycle Officer Wickman was pursuing a speeding vehicle, a car turned into his path and caused a fatal collision,” the stone reads.

“He is gone but not forgotten. Dedicated by his fellow officers of the Tacoma Police Department. 2006.”