LIEUTENANT PAUL E. NOVOTNY

BADGE 66, 480, 491, ID 1701

SDPD 11/06/1948 - 03/07/1980

09/24/1924 - 09/26/2011

THE THIN BLUE LINE

Paul Evart Novotny passed away on September 26, 2011 just a few days after his 87th birthday.  He died in the backyard of his home in Menifee but the cause of death is unknown.

He was born on September 24, 1924, in San Diego, California.  His father Ernest worked as a clerk for the Union Oil Company after serving in the first World War and his mother was a homemaker until World War II when she started working at a department store.  Paul had an older brother, Ernest Jr., who was born a few years before him but died of tuberculosis before he was 3 years old.

At San Diego High Paul was a Guard for the school football team while also playing for a band outside of school that was a part of the Pasadena Rose Parade. 

After graduating from San Diego High Paul briefly attended San Diego State University and Occidental College before transferring to Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina when he volunteered for service at the outbreak of World War II.  During the war he was stationed in England and served as a navigator for the U.S. Air Force during B-24 bombing missions over Germany.

After the war Paul went back to college on the GI Bill, receiving his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1948.

There he became a part of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Paul became a part of the San Diego Police Department shortly after graduating from Berkeley, eventually moving up to the rank of Lieutenant.  But just a few years after joining the police force he volunteered for service during the Korean War, but left just a few months later because he couldn’t get into the type of field he wanted.

Paul served in the San Diego Police Department for 30 years before retiring in 1980.

As a cop and later as Director of Security at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego, Paul was in charge of protecting the lives of several U.S.  Presidents and presidential candidates such as Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon Johnson.  He also had the privilege of performing in front of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of a band when he was just 10 years old.

Paul is survived by his two sons Ronald Wayne Novotny of Long Beach and Peter Michael Novotny of San Diego; his two daughters Michelle Marie Novotny of Santee and Emily Susan Groce of Temecula; his seven grandchildren Amanda Druckerman of Lakeside, Aaron Novotny of San Diego, Ben Novotny of Long Beach, Nick Novotny of Sacramento, Alex and Paige Groce of Temecula, and Andrew Novotny of Santee; his girlfriend of nine years, Theodora Hussong, whom he went to San Diego high with; and his great-granddaughter Hailey May Novotny, who was born just 8 weeks after his death.

A memorial service was held for Paul on October 18 at the recreational center he worked out at that was a part of the gated community he lived in. His ashes were scattered at the top of Stonewall Peak in San Diego county by his children and grandchildren.

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