History Watch: “The Man Who Beat the Odds”

History Watch:
"The Man Who Beat the Odds"
They say that after a Police Officer retires, his life expectancy is only five to ten years.  Whether that is true or not, there was one San Rafael Officer who completely beat those odds.  Arthur H. Fellows was born in Keokuk, Iowa in 1900 where he received his education.  After high school he joined the U. S. Navy where he served from 1917 to 1921.  After leaving the service, Art settled in San Rafael where he went to work for General Motors Corp., rising to the level of Service Manager.  In the mid 1930's Art got the urge to get into law enforcement and he joined the Marin County Sheriff's Department as a Deputy Sheriff.  He served in that capacity until he was hired by the San Rafael Police Department in 1943.  Art spent a good deal of his police career working traffic on a three-wheel motorcycle.  Later in his career he transferred to a patrol car (radio call 3T1) still working traffic driving the department's all white patrol car that had a built in radar unit.
Art retired from the San Rafael Police Department in 1964 at the age of 64 years.  Prior to his leaving the department, Fellows became the first Police Officer to received a new retirement benefit offered by then Police Chief Charles J. Chiesa.  Chief Chiesa felt that any Officer who retired honorably should at least retire at the rank of Sergeant.  Art Fellows, who was a patrolman, was promoted by Chief Chiesa two weeks before his retirement to the rank of Sergeant.  He received no extra pay and he was not allowed to wear the stripes, but his retirement identification card showed him as an honorably retired San Rafael Police Sergeant.  Chiesa felt that it was a way of rewarding good work during one's career.  After Fellows retired, he was hired as a part-time range master at the old San Rafael Pistol Range where he worked for a good number of years.
After Art was fully retired, I had the occasion to interview him in 1991 about the history of the department during the time that he was there.  I remember asking him how he felt after having just turned 91 years old.  Fellows, who was still driving a car and smoking his trademark cigars replied, "I feel great, but I have a bad back from driving those damn three-wheel motorcycles."  Art lived another eight years after my interview with him, having passed away on September 9, 1999 at the age of 99.  Art Fellows goes down in San Rafael Police history for two reasons.  He was the oldest retired officer the Department has ever seen and he was the first and last Officer to have received the retirement benefit of being promoted to Sergeant when he departed service.  For unknown reasons, Chief Chiesa discontinued the policy after Fellows retired and no one ever received the same recognition.
Art Fellows worked for the San Rafael Police Department for 21 years and he collected a retirement check for 35 years.  God bless him.
Attached is a photo of San Rafael Police Officer Arthur Fellows taken in 1950 when he was 50 years old.


Copyright 2014 Harry Barbier – All Rights Reserved