Roll of Honor
Incident
Deputy Sheriff Donald Kehnast suffered a fatal heart attack while he and several other officers struggled with a mental patient at a tavern in Defiance, Ohio. Deputy Kehnast had been elected sheriff two months earlier and was to take office on January 4, 1965. He had served with the Defiance County Sheriff's Office for 22 years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife, son, and three daughters.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-OH-862402D1- 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
22 years. You could have gone home.
Deputy Sheriff Kehnast gave the Defiance County Sheriff's Office 22 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Defiance community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Deputy Sheriff Kehnast.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Deputy Sheriff Donald V. Kehnast is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In OH, 43 of 991 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.3% of this state's fallen. That is 0.3 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Donald V. Kehnast's cause is highlighted.
How Donald V. Kehnast Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Donald V. Kehnast is highlighted in Dec.