‘I’ll be back’: Bill Meadows bench dedication

The two situations could hardly be more different.

The first, on Jan. 23, 1961, around 2:15 a.m., was in the cold, dark Hartman Packing Company on Main Street in Plainfield.

Night Marshal Bill Meadows had received a report of a burglary, drove through the 5-below-zero temperatures from his farm 2½ miles northwest of town, and was shot through the heart when he entered the building to investigate.

He was 36. The perpetrators were never found or identified.

The second event, on May 10, 2025, at 10 a.m., was on the corner a half block north of the shooting, at what is now the Veterans Memorial in Plainfield. Around 125-150 people gathered on a sunny spring day, birds singing in the background, to memorialize the life of the slain officer.

Retired U.S. Marshal Doug Strike of Nashua and Kenn Deike of Plainfield had led a campaign to raise funds to buy a memorial bench for Meadows, so his story would be kept alive into the future. The bench had been ordered, engraved and paid for, and it was time for the unveiling and dedication.

“It feels wonderful, and it’s sad,” Strike said of the occasion. “It’s a beautiful day. We have a great turnout of all the officers and citizens. What fantastic support we’ve had.”

Deike was also grateful for the crowd as he waited for the program to start.

“I get a little emotional,” he said. “I hope I can get through my speech.”

Strike’s wife, Carol, was standing with Dode Westendorf, whose husband had been Bremer County Sheriff from 1973-2000. Westendorf said her dad had also been a sheriff.

“Any family in law enforcement, it bothered people,” she said of the killing.

Current Bremer County Sheriff Dan Pickett was in attendance, along with military veterans and other law enforcement officers.

“I think [the memorial bench dedication] is really neat,” Pickett said. “It’s neat that there’s finally a dedication, to actually have a memorial with law enforcement involved. [Strike] has done a great job. He’s put a lot of time into it.”

Plainfield Mayor Thomas Giese welcomed the crowd to the program.

“Thank you for coming out today to honor Officer Meadows,” he began, before thanking organizers, donors and other helpers. “I want to thank everybody here in law enforcement and first responders and veterans for their service, as well.”

He continued, “Officer Meadows lost his life while fulfilling his duty to serve and protect the citizens of Plainfield.”

Also attending the ceremony were Meadows’ only known surviving relatives, his nephew Larry Carlson and Larry’s wife, Ladonna, from the Seattle, Washington, area.

“It’s great that they can be with us,” Strike said. “[Larry] has a lot of memories of his uncle. He was 14 when this happened.”

Also in the crowd was former State Trooper Wayne Soeder, who was personal friends with Meadows, and who was also called out after the shooting, according to Strike. “Wayne is here today. He’s the last officer that we know of that responded that day that’s still with us.”

Soeder shared his memories at the lectern, noting that with all the police equipment Meadows had, he did not have a chest protector.

“He really was a good man,” Soeder said. “It’s a shame to lose a man like that. Everybody loved him.”

Carlson, Meadows’ nephew, shared some of his thoughts.

“I kept my uncle’s badge all these years,” he said. “You all knew him as a man. I knew him as Uncle Bill.”

Chief Deputy Robert Whitney of the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office read the poem “A Part of America Died.” It starts, “Somebody killed a policeman today, and a part of American died.”

The poem ends, “Now his ghost walks a beat on a dark city street, and he stands at each new rookie’s side. He answered the call, of himself gave his all, and a part of America died.”

Deike recalled his family’s personal connections with their neighbor, Meadows, and how the officer enjoyed Deike’s mother’s coffee cake.

The officer had also gone above and beyond his duty to transport young Deike to the hospital in Iowa City when he had a serious eye injury, then made arrangements with the governor for the highway patrol to bring the boy’s grandparents to the hospital, as well.

“Bill was a small-town police officer with commitment to his town and his community,” Deike said. “He was a friend to all.”

Strike recapped the events that led to Meadows’ death, including that when he left the farm he shared with his aunt to investigate the burglary, he told her, “I’ll be back.”

That was 64 years ago.

“I submit to you that Bill Meadows has never really left,” Strike said. “He’s never left the hearts and minds of the people that remember him. And with this bench, he will be forever watching down Main Street of Plainfield at the community that he was sworn to protect.”