Retired WPD Deputy Chief Reflects on 38-Year Career
Trending
WHEELING -- For Marty Kimball, the high points of his 38-year career with the Wheeling Police Department were the little things, like helping an elderly woman after a rock was thrown through her window.
"My partner and I hired a guy to repair the window for her and paid for it ourselves. It wasn't a terrific expense, but it probably meant the world to her," said Kimball, who retired from WPD as deputy chief in August. "And that's what I always viewed as my job, to help people like that in their times of crisis. They don't have to be big crises. To her, that was a big deal."
Kimball, 65, is now settling into retired life after nearly four decades with the department.
"You had an exciting job with adrenaline and excitement every day, and to leave that, you don't get the adrenaline any more, which is good and bad," Kimball said. "Getting used to that and dealing with that is still a work in progress."
Born in New Jersey, Kimball moved to Toledo as a child before his family relocated to Wheeling during his senior year of high school. He graduated from West Virginia University in 1976 with a business degree, worked in accounting briefly and took a job at Oglebay Park as a ranger.
"Through my early years at Oglebay Park, I got to meet hundreds and hundreds of people from around the world," Kimball said. "I liked that part of meeting new people, learning their experiences and being outside. I didn't like being cooped up in an office."
One day, he saw an advertisement for the police department's entrance test, which piqued his interest. He took the test, finished first and was hired as a patrolman.
"This kind of fit the bill and gave me exactly what I was looking for: it's outside, it's dealing with people, it was exciting," Kimball said.
Kimball said the job was different and more dangerous when he started in the '80s: the crack epidemic was evident in the city, four or five calls would stack up at a time and officers wrote up police reports either by hand or on a typewriter.
Though he's been shot at, cut, had three different broken bones and ended up in the emergency room numerous times, Kimball said, he found the job fun.
"We actually looked forward to coming to work. You didn't want to take a day off. Sometimes the night shift was the most exciting shift," Kimball said. "I saw a quote from another officer: 'dealing with people, you are witnessing the greatest show on Earth and you have a ringside seat for it.' And I say it's better than ringside. You're in the game. There's no greater feeling than that for me."
Over the years, Kimball worked his way up the ranks of WPD, eventually becoming a sergeant and later a lieutenant, in which he had a responsibility to oversee other officers.
"I always took the responsibility of protecting my officers and seeing that nothing bad happened to them very seriously," he said. "I think that was probably my number one job, making sure that nothing bad happened to my officers."
The job also brought darker moments, such as responding to a shooting by an ex-police officer at the Federal Building in Wheeling in 2013, and the infamous murders by Mark Storm of his family members in 1997.
"A lot of police officers have moments like that that stay with them. You can never get rid of them," Kimball said. "It reminds you of the worst that people can do to other human beings, and you're constantly asking yourself 'why?'"
There were plenty of positive moments in his career, too, Kimball said, including protecting and meeting several U.S. presidents who visited Wheeling, most recently President Donald Trump.
"For a city the size of Wheeling, that's a prestigious thing to be able to say that we've had a number of different presidents visit," Kimball said. "To help provide security for the president of the United States is overwhelming in some respects, and to know that you played a critical role in forming some of the details for that."
Humor was also a big part of the job, Kimball said, from using jokes to process tragedy or experiencing embarrassing moments, like falling into a creek. One night during a torrential downpour, Kimball responded to a call on Elm Street, not realizing that Elm Run was in front of him.
"I was running full speed to get to this house. All of a sudden, my feet were spinning in the air, and I hit the concrete wall and kind of collapsed in the creek," Kimball said. "I wasn't injured, and other officers came running over saying 'Are you OK? Should we call the fire department?' And I said, 'Don't you dare call the fire department.'"
For the past 10 years, Kimball served as deputy chief for WPD, where he was in charge of the department's uniformed division, overseeing about 60 officers. Working with and mentoring younger officers was important to him, Kimball said, and he's confident in the department's future.
"Wheeling has been blessed with a lot of good officers, and even today as I was walking out the door, I looked and saw a lot of, we've hired a lot of really good young officers who will serve the citizens well in the future," he said. "The city is blessed with having them."
Recently, Kimball has seen an increase in the number of residents supporting police officers.
"The number of citizens who have walked up in passing to say thank you for your service, it's heartwarming to hear people say that," he said. "It truly makes you feel that you are making a difference and that people do appreciate the sacrifices you make."
Kimball said his wife's job in being married to a police officer was even harder than his own.
"I just feel very fortunate that he made it through those 38 years as safe as he did so that we can start the second journey of our lives together," his wife, Rosalie Kimball, said. "Talking to his men the last night on the job, they brought me to tears. I didn't realize what the men really thought of him. They told me this because he totally respected every one of them.
"It's also great having him home," she continued. "Now we can enjoy what he worked all those years for."
Looking back his last 38 years, Kimball said it was an honor to serve Wheeling and its residents.
"The privilege of serving the citizens has been a tremendous feeling. I've enjoyed it very much and I deeply appreciate the citizens giving me that responsibility," he said. "I miss it terribly, and what I miss the most is working the street, being outside dealing with people."