lit a candle 7h ago25 years on that job. Thinking of Marjorie tonight.
Their story
John David Waldenville was a major with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office in Oklahoma, where he served for more than 25 years and held senior posts including civil deputy, chief financial officer and bureau commander. He became known well beyond the department in 2011, when he was shot in the…
John David Waldenville was a major with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office in Oklahoma, where he served for more than 25 years and held senior posts including civil deputy, chief financial officer and bureau commander. He became known well beyond the department in 2011, when he was shot in the head and robbed while working an off duty security job in Oklahoma City, and survived. He died on 18 October 2026, aged 75, and the sheriff's office announced his death on 27 October.
Waldenville was born in 1951 and lived in Edmond, Oklahoma. Over his career with the sheriff's office he worked on the SWAT tactical unit and later moved into administration. By 2011 he was a major in the Administrative Bureau, serving as the office's chief financial officer, and he also oversaw the training division.
On the night of 20 to 21 May 2011, Waldenville was working part time as a security guard for Cattlemen's Steakhouse in the Stockyards City district, with the permission of the sheriff's office and in uniform. He was taking the restaurant's night deposit of about 6,000 dollars to a nearby bank when two men approached him from behind, shot him in the face and took the money bags. He lost an eye and was at first in critical condition. Oklahoma City police arrested two suspects, one of them a former employee of the restaurant, who were charged with shooting with intent to kill and armed robbery.
His recovery drew wide support. The Oklahoma County Fraternal Order of Police raised 142,205.79 dollars for him, and he received the Integris Courage Award. He and his family later held a news conference raising concerns about his workers' compensation, health care and disability benefits, and about the fundraising money. The sheriff's office replied that benefits were handled by the county and that every penny raised had been passed to the family's attorney, calling him one of its most respected and loved employees and a hero to them all. In 2013 the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that Cattlemen's, as the private employer, was responsible for his workers' compensation benefits, a decision that clarified the rules for off duty officers in Oklahoma.
Waldenville died on 18 October 2026. His funeral home, Hahn-Cook/Street and Draper, said no services had been scheduled, and no cause of death was made public. Announcing his death, the sheriff's office honoured his decades of service and his commitment to his fellow deputies, writing: "Rest in peace, Major Waldenville. Thank you for your service."
Biography adapted from News 9, Oklahoma Supreme Court (2013 OK 95), Hahn-Cook/Street and Draper Funeral Directors.
In their own words
“Rest in peace, Major Waldenville. Thank you for your service.”
Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, announcing his death, 27 October 2026
Photos
1Major John Waldenville of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office
by People Forever
he gave a lot to that department, for sure