Thomas Clifford Dillon

Thomas Clifford Dillon devoted his short life to public service in Bethel, Alaska, where he served as chief of police. Known in department records as Tom Dillon, he had been with the Bethel Police Department for roughly two and a half years when he died on November 19, 1972, at age 32. He served a close-knit river community where local officers were often friends and neighbors of the people they protected, and his work carried the responsibilities of law enforcement in a remote town with deep interpersonal ties.

Beyond his uniform, public records note that he was a husband named to his wife, Liz, and father to a son, Matt. Those personal details — a young family and a leadership role in a small municipal department — suggest the ordinary, important rhythms of life he kept: family mornings and evenings, the duties of a local police chief, and the connections that come from living and working in a compact community on Alaska’s rivers.

Contemporary court and memorial records show that Dillon’s death had lasting legal and civic repercussions for Bethel. The incident that ended his life drew regional attention and later appeared in appellate court records and memorial listings of law-enforcement officers. Those sources record his name, rank, date of death, length of service, and surviving family, preserving the basic facts of the man who led a young department in a remote town.

Public documentation of Dillon’s life is limited in online archives, and I did not find a published funeral notice or family obituary that exactly matches the confirmed November 19, 1972, date. That scarcity of personal printed memorials in accessible digital form means many of the private remembrances of his character and daily life are not available through searchable sources. What remains clear and verifiable is that Thomas Clifford Dillon was a working chief of police, a husband and father, and a member of the Bethel community whose death in 1972 was felt by his family and by a small department he led. His service and the human ties he left behind are the fitting focus of remembrance.