Henry Jorden Willeford
Incident
Reserve Deputy Henry Willeford succumbed to injuries sustained seven years earlier when he was struck by a vehicle.
He was en route home at the end of his shift when he encountered a deer carcass blocking a lane of traffic. He activated his vehicle's emergency equipment and attempted to remove the deer. As he did so he was struck by an oncoming vehicle and sustained serious injuries.
He remained bedridden until succumbing to his injuries on November 16, 2009.
Deputy Willeford had served in law enforcement for 55 years.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife and 15 children.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-AR-27C8F3EE- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
55 years. You could have gone home.
Reserve Deputy Sheriff Willeford gave the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office 55 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Clinton community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Reserve Deputy Sheriff Willeford.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Reserve Deputy Sheriff Henry Jorden Willeford is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In AR, 92 of 372 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 24.7% of this state's fallen. That is 6.3 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Henry Jorden Willeford's cause is highlighted.
How Henry Jorden Willeford Compares
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Henry Jorden Willeford is highlighted in Nov.