Hovde, 66, quietly led Monroe police
Published 10:25 pm Saturday, August 18, 2007
MONROE – On a night 35 years ago, John Hovde leaned against his patrol car outside a home on Blakely Street, arms folded, waiting for the pickup he’d just heard racing down U.S. 2.
The roaring sound of the truck’s exhaust told him all he needed to know. The culprit was 17-year-old Derrel Johnson. The pickup was a beat-up aqua-and-white 1964 Chevy. And the kid had been speeding.
When Johnson pulled up, Hovde didn’t write him a ticket, but he gave the teenager a lecture he’d never forget.
Years later, Hovde became Monroe’s chief of police and eventually hired Johnson as one of his officers.
“He treated people with dignity and respect,” said Johnson, now 52 and a sergeant with the department. “I don’t regret a single day I worked for him or came to the agency. He’s a big reason why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
Hovde, a career Monroe police officer who retired as police chief in 1992, died from health problems Tuesday at his Monroe home. He was 66.
A public memorial service for Hovde is planned for 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Blue Boy West Golf Course at 27927 Florence Acres Road in Monroe. A reception is planned after the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to the Monroe Police Officers Association in memory of the Jackson Weaver and John Sahlstrom Leukemia Foundation.
“He was a quiet, private person. He didn’t ever want to be a bother to anybody,” said his stepdaughter, Danielle Warner, 36. “Toward the last part of his illness, most people didn’t know how ill he was, because he didn’t want people to take that burden of knowing he was sick.”
Hovde graduated from Everett High School in 1959. He attended the University of Washington and also served in the U.S. Army. His career with the Monroe Police Department began in 1968, and he was promoted to police chief in the early 1980s.
He never served any other law enforcement agency.
“That was a great, great thing to him,” Warner said. “He cherished all those years he had as an officer, and the people he met.”
Hovde had an easy style about him, Sgt. Johnson said. He was a hands-off kind of manager who let his officers do their jobs.
Outside the station, Hovde was more hands-on. He would walk downtown, frequent businesses and chat with the public. He always knew what was happening in his city.
Johnson was 13 or 14 years old when Hovde first talked to him.
“The officers here knew the kids, and they knew where you belonged and where you didn’t belong,” Johnson said. “He always took the time to stop and see how we were doing.”
Outside of work, Hovde was passionate about golfing. He and his wife, Cheryl Hovde, would travel together to different courses. For a dozen years, Hovde went golfing with friends nearly every Sunday morning.
“If he wasn’t golfing, he was at home cleaning his clubs, and getting them ready for the next day,” Warner said.
Hovde was also a man of his word.
That night 35 years ago, when he caught Johnson speeding, Hovde told him, “If you don’t slow down, it’s going to cost you,” Johnson said.
It didn’t take long for Hovde to catch Johnson speeding again – and it cost him.
Johnson’s punishment was four weekends of washing cars at the Monroe Police Department. He washed police cars and any other vehicle Hovde could find. In his breaks between washing cars, Johnson was ordered to pick up trash.
Hovde had just one thing to say to Johnson when he hired him as a reserve police officer in 1986.
“He said to me, ‘Just don’t let me down,’ ” Johnson said. “He liked the fact he had known me, and had watched me grow as a young man. He told me, ‘There was a time I saw more potential in you than you saw in yourself.’ “
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
