MOTORCYCLE OFFICER HARRY TOWNSEND
BADGE 489 & 492
SDPD 07/08/1948 - 01/15/1973
11/04/1918 - 09/22/1989
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Harry James "Jim" Townsend Jr., a San Diego Police Department motorcycle officer for 25 years, died Friday of heart failure at his Lakeside home. He was 70.
Mr. Townsend, a native of Canada, settled in San Diego after World War II and served with the San Diego Police Department from 1948 to his retirement in 1973. From 1974 to 1982 he was a travel and tour agent for Orbitours of San Diego and a sales representative for Alamo Rent A Car.
During World War II, he was a navigator with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater and also served with the Flying Tigers. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Municipal Motorcycle Officers Association of California.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at the Neptune Society Chapel. Cremation is planned with ashes to be scattered at sea.
Mr. Townsend is survived by his wife, Darlene; daughters, Susi Darnell of Carlsbad, Sigrid Erwin of New Orleans, and Kathy Santeramo of Davie, Fla.; a son, Jamie of Santa Cruz; two grandsons and four granddaughters; and one great-grandson.