Reception to honor retiring GPD Sgt. Eastham Saturday at VFW

Already involved in law enforcement longer than he's otherwise been alive, Sgt. Terry Eastham knew it was time to retire when he started encountering the grandchildren of those he's come across on both sides of the law.

The longtime Greencastle City Police officer officially retired Dec. 30. He will be feted Saturday with a 1-4 p.m. open house reception at the Greencastle VFW Post, 819 S. Jackson St.

"I saw I was now dealing with the grandchildren of people I had dealt with before," the 56-year-old Eastham told the Banner Graphic this week, adding that was indeed the case on both sides of the law.

The best part of his job, Sgt. Eastham offered, simply has been "helping people."

And he's done that throughout 27 years of full-time police service and more than 33 years overall, counting his time as a city reserve officer.

"That's a lot of chiefs and a lot of mayors," he quipped before taking a more serious tone.

"And I came home every day," Eastham added, "and that's what's important. I hope the rest of them are that fortunate."

Obviously, law enforcement has had a major impact on his family over the years.

Wife Tammy is a former City Police dispatcher. Oldest son Nick is a GPD patrolman who was honored as the department's 2013 Officer of the Year. And youngest son Brock, a senior at Greencastle High School, is enrolled in the Area 30 Career Center law enforcement program.

"Yeah, I haven't been able to talk him (Brock) out of it either," Sgt. Eastham said with a chuckle about a second son potentially following in his footsteps.

City Police Chief Tom Sutherlin can attest to Eastham's dedication to duty. The retiring officer has worked alongside the chief for Sutherlin's entire 24-year GPD career (as the chief also had with now-retired Capt. Mike Hanlon).

Eastham was even one of Sutherlin's training officers when the chief joined the department.

"He taught me some of the things I needed to be taught," Sutherlin said. "Terry has always been willing to train other officers on the proper way to do things.

"The thing about Terry," the chief added, "is he's always been very loyal to the department."

He said Eastham also was known to do things people outside the department might never realize he was doing.

"Over the past several years," Chief Sutherlin praised, "he's saved the city thousands of dollars working on our computers."

But Eastham is also responsible for one of the scariest days of Sutherlin's police career. It was Jan. 2, 2006, two years to the day of Putnam County Sheriff's Department Capt. Jim Baugh's fatal accident on U.S. 231.

While working a security detail, Sgt. Eastham was involved in a bad accident with a trash truck on U.S. 231 that kept him off duty for four months.

"It was one of the worst phones calls I've ever gotten as chief," Sutherlin recalled for the Banner Graphic.

"The dispatcher, Becky Chadd, said 'one of your officers has been involved in a serious accident. We think it's Terry, he's not answering his radio.'"

Eastham actually has little to say about the accident. And for good reason.

"I would (comment) if I knew what happened," he said, adding that he would be remiss not to give wife Tammy credit for "taking care of me the four months I was off."

In addition to wife Tammy and sons Nick (wife Marcy) and Brock, the Eastham family includes daughter Julena (husband Shannon) and stepdaughter Samantha Rollings, all of Greencastle, along with five grandchildren.

Eastham, who will remain as a reserve officer for GPD, is working part-time in security at Ivy Tech.

"There are a few other things I'm looking into," he added, "I haven't decided anything else yet."