Guy Van Cleave picked a heck of a time to become Adams County sheriff.
Autumn of 1961. About 40 law enforcement officers and officials – including his predecessor – just convicted of running a massive burglary ring. Public trust in police officers and sheriff’s deputies shattered. In stepped Van Cleave, barely 38 years old but already a veteran of two wars, to try to fix things.
And fix them, he did.
“He went about changing the image and bringing respect and honor and loyalty back to the department,” said Jerry Eye, a former undersheriff with Adams County who was a young deputy when Van Cleave arrived.
Van Cleave, 82, died a week ago, after a battle with cancer. But at a memorial service Thursday and in conversations, he was remembered as a man of integrity and vision who helped lead metro area police agencies into the future.
“He was really one of the pioneers of law enforcement as we know it today in Colorado,” said his son, Ken Van Cleave.
As police chief of Westminster, Guy Van Cleave set up the state’s first police dive team to rescue drowning victims or recover their bodies. Van Cleave, a patrolman and a local engineer read a few books on diving, experimented with the primitive breathing apparatuses and then just started going out on calls, according to a newspaper article from the time.
Later, as Adams County sheriff, Van Cleave worked with the sheriffs in Jefferson and Arapahoe counties to establish a teletype communications system between the three agencies, to quickly share information on crooks and crimes.
The current Sheriff’s Office administration building also was built under his watch.
All along, Eye said, Van Cleave was a straightforward, honest boss.
“I enjoyed working for him,” Eye said. “I was very proud to work for him. I learned a lot from him. … I wanted to be like him or half as good as him.”
Van Cleave resigned in 1973.
“This is the best job that I’ll ever have,” he said at the time.
Van Cleave was born Aug. 15, 1923, in Elm Creek, Neb. He graduated from high school in Westminster, then went into the Marine Corps, where he served in World War II and the Korean War.
Returning home, he helped establish the Westminster Police Department and became its chief. Before becoming sheriff, he helped with the investigation that undid his predecessor.
Ken Van Cleave said his father was a strict man, but always fair.
“He demanded a lot, and he was respected a lot,” Ken Van Cleave said.
The duties of the job frequently took him away from the family. But in his spare time, he enjoyed building crafts and remodeling the house, Ken Van Cleave said. He also enjoyed golf, Eye said.
Guy Van Cleave is survived by his wife, Betty; two sons, Ken and Wayne; a daughter, Linda; and a stepdaughter, Linda.
Ken Van Cleave said his family is proud of the legacy Guy Van Cleave built decades ago.
“Thirty years later, you have people who would quite frankly still take a bullet for him,” Ken said. “They loved him and they loved what he stood for.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
