Jack Kopp Was My Friend

Tell you the truth I had completely forgotten how uptight DOC people are. I was so relieved that a number of my friends were there. And some people I took a look at, to see if they've changed at all. Well, maybe next time. But nice to see some of the other retirees, showing up for Jack's memorial service. He was a good friend to some of us, especially in the "old days."

I remember and will never forget the way he looked out for Richard and me. He kept calling to offer me this job in Spokane, and I kept saying not without Richard. So finally he calls and he says, "I've been holding this job for you for seven months. How long do I have to hold it?" "Not without Richard," I said. So he worked it out to where there were three openings and he told the other two supervisors that one of them had to take Richard or he wouldn't get me. They interviewed together for the three jobs. Tanya Marlton took Richard into the Sex Offender Unit and Jack took me into Level 6, as it was known then, aka Minimum. I told him at the time if he could pull that off, I'd send him flowers. When we got to Spokane I did just that. Boy was he embarrassed!

Then there was the "Gretchen Era." There weren't many of us who stood up to that. Jack and I both did though. It's another one of those things you don't forget. Who stands up when it's downright dangerous to do it.

I remember when Jack initiated the Drug Unit in Spokane. He'd already decided on Jack Brucick as Lead and Gheorghe Turcin as one of the CCOs. He comes to me and says, "Why haven't I gotten your letter of interest yet?" "You're not going to," I said. "Why not?" "I don't want to work with those two MCPs," I said. "Well," he says, "then I guess I'll know who to appoint, won't I?" This is called the handwriting is on the wall. So I put the letter in. It was inevitable anyway. And those two were in my office right away, suggesting that they should do all the field work and I could be the "administrative" officer and do all the reports and filing. I said exactly six words. "Guys, I am a field officer." And that was the end of that. I guess it really worked out okay. I was a good officer. I didn't need either of them to help me do my job.

One time when minimum was on the third floor at the Broadway Office, he called me in to his office. I knew it was a chewing out, but I couldn't imagine what for. "Why," he said, "are you going down to the second floor all the time to help them make arrests?" "Because they asked me," I said. "They have other female officers," he pointed out. "Oh." "Stop going down there. You work up here." "Yes Sir."

And then when they were investigating the sex offender Coughlin, and I was refusing to be interviewed by Personnel, he called me in then too. "Why aren't you telling Personnel what you know about that situation?" he said. "Because, it would ruin my life," I said. "Woman," he said, "get your feet on the ground! You can't let that woman hang out there without support. What are you thinking about?" Basically, he shamed me into it. And I was right. I remember when Dave Savage called me after it was all over. "Why," he wanted to know, "didn't you ever report this?" "Because," I said, "I knew it was going to ruin my life, and I was right!"

I know that in the end, he was the one who decided I wouldn't go back to a CCO position in the field. My years of reasonable accommodation had run out, and I was losing my Headquarters job. Nanette wanted to hire me as a CCO in the Valley Office, and it was looking better to me all the time. I was sitting in Nanette's office when she called him about it. He had no idea I was sitting there. She never told me what he said, but I guessed he didn't want a disabled CCO. Maybe he thought I couldn't handle the job anymore, which was probably true. I probably couldn't. My health was shot, even if I wasn't ready to admit it. But it felt pretty bad to be left out in the cold by one of my oldest friends. So instead of going back to the field, I ended up at Pine Lodge, where I could barely do the job. It was a disaster. The only part I was any good at was Grievances, and of course counseling the offenders. But I never even started to understand prison policies and rules. It was torture for me to feel like such an idiot.

I was a little angry with Jack about that. But when I saw him at Bill Quayle's funeral, it was like none of that had ever happened. He walked up behind me and leaned over my shoulder and said, "Hi." I turned to see who it was, and when I saw it was Jack, I just beamed. I was happy to see him. He was hollow-eyed and gaunt and he didn't have any hair left to speak of. I was happy to see him, but I was also shocked.

I kept hearing how sick he was from my friends who worked for DOC, so one day when I was in town I went by to see him. He looked terrible. I took a long look at him and said, "Jack, what the hell are you doing?" "I'm working," he said. "I work for a living." He was really steamed. Of course, there was nothing unusual about Jack yelling at me. I remember one time he was in my office and we were having an argument about something. Lois came in and told us we needed to keep it down. I remember he just turned his head toward her, and made this hand movement that amounted to brushing her off. He was right, of course, there was nothing wrong. We were just talking, like we talked. So it was loud.

He was the best Supervisor I ever had, and I had a couple of good ones along with the bad, which was what I mostly had. While I worked for Jack, I never doubted myself or my ability, and I didn't worry about what was happening at HQ or anywhere else for that matter. He had us covered.

As a human being, I saw that Jack was far from perfect. He was pig-headed for one thing. Once he made up his mind about something, he was a pain in the ass about it. He didn't doubt himself quite enough for my taste. He could have been more open to other points of view. But in spite of our differences, which were many, he always respected me and my abilities. And I always respected him.

When Jack hired me, he told me he needed two things from me...one was to work hard, and the other one was loyalty. Once I gave him that, I never took it back. I don't think I ever turned down a direct request from him, regardless of who I actually worked for. And my loyalty, well he had that all the way to the end.

Jack Kopp was my friend.