When it comes to police unions, actively involved members can be hard to come by. That’s understandable — between career and family, life gets busy. It is the reason why, as an association, we value those who step forward to help fellow PPOA members. Unfortunately, we lost two longtime, dedicated PPOA supporters last month.
Retired Sergeant Richard Shockcor passed away on March 12. The 29-year LASD veteran served as a PPOA Board member from 1981 to 1987, including two years as president. He joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1959 as a member of Class #75. His career included eight years in patrol, 11 years with Narcotics Bureau, three years with TST and one year at Wayside Honor Rancho.
Richard was a proud Korean War veteran with 60 years of Star Post 309 membership and 38 years of PPOA membership. We are indebted to him for serving fellow PPOA members, and we enjoyed sitting and chatting with Richard about his union leadership days each year at the PPOA Retiree Luncheon and the LASD Retiree Roundup in Laughlin (to which he often proudly wore his vintage PPOA shirts and hats).
We extend our sincere condolences to Richard’s wife, Marlys, and his many friends and colleagues.
Retired Deputy Claude Anderson passed away on March 29. Generations of PPOA members have seen Claude’s cartoons in Star & Shield; after all, he had been drawing those cartoons for more than 40 years. In addition to his cartoons, Claude donated boxes of his cartoon books to PPOA’s Star and Shield Foundation and designed bobblehead dolls to help the foundation raise funds for the families of fallen officers. The longtime Bullhead City, Arizona, resident gave generously of his time and talent to PPOA.
Claude was a proud U.S. Air Force veteran. In fact, several of Claude’s earliest cartoons appeared in the official Stars and Stripes military newspaper while he served in the Korean War. After joining the Sheriff’s Department, his cartoons made appearances on lockers and briefing room walls. Claude submitted his first cartoon to Star & Shield while he was a training officer at Firestone Station.
Claude retired from the Sheriff’s Department in 1978 and was a member of PPOA for the last 45 years. He and I spoke at least once or twice a year on the phone, and we (President Brian Moriguchi, Executive Director Wayne Quint and myself) had the pleasure of visiting Claude and his wife, Lorraine, at their home in Bullhead City last year while attending the Retiree Roundup. And, of course, Claude made sure we left with an extra supply of his cartoon books because he wanted to make sure they would be distributed to his beloved fellow retirees at PPOA’s annual luncheon. He gave of himself to the very end.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to Lorraine, along with Claude’s many friends and loved ones.