A stretch of Northeast 78th Street holds a haunting memory for Timm Sowders.
When Timm was a child, his father, a Clark County Sheriff’s deputy, was shot and killed while trying to apprehend a fleeing burglar. The bullet that struck and killed Martin Sowders was fired by another deputy’s firearm as he, too, pursued the suspect.
Nearly 40 years after the events of that day — Nov. 19, 1976 — Martin Sowders will receive what his family considers a fitting memorial. The Clark County Operations Center, located down the street from where Martin Sowders was shot and killed, will be renamed in his honor later this year. The operations center is home to the county’s public works department.
“This has been my brainchild for a couple of years,” said Timm, now 46. The holdup was finding a suitable county-owned property to carry the Sowders name.
County parks were out of the question, Timm said, because his father was allergic to grass and shrubbery. The county had briefly discussed the idea because a 2.5-acre park had been named after Sgt. Brad Crawford, another deputy who lost his life in the line of duty. Timm, however, didn’t think that would be a fitting tribute, given his father’s aversion to parks.
The operations center, though, just made sense. It was there that Martin Sowders would change the oil in his patrol car, a Plymouth Fury III, before shifts. Timm remembers eating dinner with his father at the operations center, on nights when Martin was working.
And it was just down the road, on Northeast 78th Street, where his life came to an end.
The operations center will officially be renamed in honor of Martin Sowders either in May, to correspond with the National Peace Officers Memorial Day, or in September, the month of Martin’s birthday. The county hasn’t yet set a firm date, said Holley Gilbert, a spokeswoman for the county.
She said the county has worked closely with the Sowders family since February to make the memorial a reality.
“The county was interested in supporting the family in their wishes,” she said. “That was the place they wanted; that was the place that made sense to (Timm). And that was where Marty was killed.”
Currently, all that memorializes Martin Sowders is a tiny area near the sheriff’s office, where a small plaque rests. Timm goes there from time to time to clean up cigarette butts. He’s never been happy that his father’s memorial has been used as a makeshift ashtray.
While the memorial won’t bring closure to Timm and his family — that came years ago — it will act as a monument to Martin’s service, his son said. And perhaps the stretch of road will be easier to return to in the future.
Not too long ago, Timm was looking to move his power-washing business into a new office, and an affordable space became available along Northeast 78th Street. Timm turned it down without hesitation. It was too close to where he lost his father.
The intersection has always had one of those “weird haunted feelings,” Timm said. He doesn’t avoid it necessarily; but then again, he wouldn’t have an office there, either.
Today, Timm still has memories of his father. He remembers his love of planes, trains and cars. There were times when the two of them would drive to a cut-out on Marine Drive, eat sandwiches and watch the planes approach for landing at Portland International Airport.
As the years unspooled following Martin’s shooting, as Timm reached milestones in his own life his father never did, the stretch of 78th Street continued to possess a psychic hold over him.
The memorial, he said, will be a way of moving on and remember a father taken too soon.
“I’ve never really known my dad,” he said. “And that’s something I carry with me.”
Tyler Graf: 360-735-4517; twitter.com/Col_Clarkgov; tyler.graf@columbian.com.
