Thomas D. Westfall
Encyclopedia
Thomas D. Westfall was born in Decatur, Illinois in 1927. He met his future wife, Margie Peterson while in high school in Decatur. Westfall joined the United States Marine Corps
at the age of 17 and was sent to China during the final campaigns of WWII. Westfall then got his undergraduate degree and Law degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaigne with the assistance of the GI bill. Westfall then joined the FBI and worked as an agent over the next 25 years in Dallas, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, Washington DC, Savannah, Georgia and finally in El Paso
, Texas
as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the El Paso office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
. In this capacity he supervised criminal investigations of offenses of federal laws until his retirement.
In 1978, Westfall decided to run for the nonpartisan position of Mayor of El Paso and was successful in his campaign. A no-nonsense individual, he ran into situations which put him in opposition to many of his political opponents, some of whom preferred a more subtle approach to problems and, upon completion of his first and only term, he chose not to run for re-election.
Westfall died in North Bend, Oregon
in March 2005 at the age of 77.
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
at the age of 17 and was sent to China during the final campaigns of WWII. Westfall then got his undergraduate degree and Law degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaigne with the assistance of the GI bill. Westfall then joined the FBI and worked as an agent over the next 25 years in Dallas, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, Washington DC, Savannah, Georgia and finally in El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the El Paso office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. In this capacity he supervised criminal investigations of offenses of federal laws until his retirement.
In 1978, Westfall decided to run for the nonpartisan position of Mayor of El Paso and was successful in his campaign. A no-nonsense individual, he ran into situations which put him in opposition to many of his political opponents, some of whom preferred a more subtle approach to problems and, upon completion of his first and only term, he chose not to run for re-election.
Westfall died in North Bend, Oregon
North Bend, Oregon
North Bend is a city in Coos County, Oregon, in the United States with a population of 9,695 as of the 2010 census. North Bend is surrounded on three sides by Coos Bay, an S-shaped water inlet and estuary where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean, and borders the city of Coos Bay,...
in March 2005 at the age of 77.