Jon J. Coddington

Jon Jay Coddington was born on March 26, 1948 in Austin Minnesota, the middle son of Russell and LuMae Coddington. His older brother David and younger brother Lynn completed the family. The boys spent a good deal of their growing up years in Rolfe, Iowa surrounded by family. As a prelude to future endeavors, they became quite successful at hunting! The rule was ""do not shoot anything you are not going to eat."" Due to a job opportunity for their dad, the family packed up and moved to Southern California. Jon attended James Monroe High School (arch rival of Kennedy High where John Elway was attending.) Back in Rolfe, grandma was getting old, so Jon returned to give her a hand, and graduated from Rolfe High School. Upon returning to California, Jon received his ""greetings"" letter from ""Uncle Sam,"" and was drafted into the Army. He thought it might be fun to jump out of airplanes, so he went to jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He received orders to go to South VietNam, where he was a member of the Airborne Recon unit. Jon has never been a trusting person, so he volunteered to walk point. He was responsible for the safety of his company, and never lost a man! When he returned to the states, he saw a t.v. commercial that said L.A.P.D. would pay you to train as a police officer. Jon saw two lines, and chose the shorter one (the one for those who had already passed the entrance exam!) In the confusion, the administrators thought they had misplaced Jon's results (Jon did not see fit to correct their findings, and has the distinction of being one of the very few officers to have never taken the entrance exam.) He began his Police career six stories under ground as a dispatcher during his probation, followed by patrol duties. He found his favored place in Accident Investigation, where he spent the next 17 years. He enjoyed off-duty jobs on movie sets, parades, and providing security for dignitaries. With the crime levels in L.A. escalating, Jon and Julie decided it was time to leave. They had visited Julie's brother and family in Littleton, Colorado, and thought that Colorado was the perfect place to be. Jon and 500 other hopefuls took the C.O.P.S. test at the Adams County Fairgrounds. We couldn't find even a 7-Eleven to buy a cup of coffee, let alone a Winchell's donut shop, (yes, what you hear about L.A. cops and Winchell's is true) and Jon said ""who would live in such a God Forsaken town!"" He was offered a position with the Thornton Police Department, and was thrilled because the uniforms were the same color as L.A. He came home after his first day on the job with a mixture of feelings - he was the ""old guy from Los Angeles"" and his mantra for months was ""do it the Thornton way."" He was impressed from the start by the welcoming way he was treated. His creed has always been honesty (sometimes brutal) treat everyone fairly, cover your partners, and go home at end of watch. As his health deteriorated, he was humbled by the care and concern of his co-workers from the Chief to the ""brooms."" We, his wife Julie, son Ed, daughters Lisa and Laura, his brothers, and our grandchildren, would like to thank each and every one of our dear T.P.D. family for your outpouring of love, concern, support, and help. We know that Jon will be a part of us forever with his ""Jon-isms"" Please know that our door is always open for a drink, a chat or a potty stop. With our love and gratitude, (Jon) Julie and family Please share your memories of Jon and condolences with his family by selecting the ""Sign Guestbook"" tab below.