Jim Riddel of Vienna was a man's man and a great friend. He died last week.
Jim grew up in Calhoun, W. Va. He served in the United State Marine Corps for many years, then switched to police work when his enlistment ended. That's where he made his mark.
Jim was a homicide detective with the Fairfax County Police Department for almost forty years. He was recognized by Parade Magazine in 1971 as one of the Ten Most Outstanding Police Officers in the nation. He was twice recognized by Fairfax County as its employee of the year. He was repeatedly awarded by community organizations as the top police detective in Fairfax.
You can read all that in the newspaper. I got to know Jim many years later, as the head of the Retired Police officers Association and godfather for the Fairfax County Coalition of Police. He got me started in my Senate race in 2007 and secured me the police endorsement (as a challenger), when nobody else would touch me. (You can still see "Police Endorsed" on those old signs when we put 'em up.) He also walked all over Vienna telling his friends to vote for me, and that was a lot of people. When I took the stage that night to announce our victory, I asked him to join me up there -- the only non-family member.
Jim and I stayed friends after and I relied on his advice for all things relating to police work, not to mention Vienna politics. His last years were tough due to advanced throat cancer. He couldn't talk but had to rely on hand-written notes. I thank those people that nursed him in his final days.
Jim represented the best of many things. You don't meet a man like that often.