William S. Tanaka, a reserve Madera County Sheriff's deputy and a state licensed clinical technician who retired in August 2005 after nearly 50 years of service, has died.

"After he retired we all said that his absence was a huge loss," said Sheriff John Anderson, "not just for us; he was a blessing to all law enforcement agencies and hospitals ... I would go so far as to say no one could beat, much less match, Bill's tenacity, style and wit." 

Tanaka's career in law enforcement began in 1957 drawing blood and doing lab work on countless suspects arrested by the sheriff's department, police and California Highway Patrol.

"In those days," Tanaka once said, "it would take up to a month to find out the results. Now it takes anywhere from a week to as early as overnight."

After his birth in Fresno, Tanaka's life took a series of twists and turns before he finally settled in Madera. When he last sat down with Anderson to talk about work, life and his future he shared some of his past.

"I remember him telling me that despite any hardship, he truly believed that he had lived a charmed life," Anderson said.

Tanaka fondly talked about his short stint as a boxer, and the day he met the famed Jackie Robinson. "He was varsity broad-jump and I was Class C. We met between heats. He was a very nice man," Tanaka told Anderson.

Tanaka's amateur boxing career was in the 1930s. "I was pretty good," Tanaka recalled.

"Was it fun?" asked the sheriff.

"Four bucks was four bucks and in those days that was a lot of money," replied Tanaka.

 There was some misery in his life that he admits took a toll on his family.

When World War II hit, Tanaka found himself behind a barbed-wire fence, living in a camp in Arizona like thousands of other Americans of Japanese descent. "I'm told there were 10,000 people in that one camp alone," he said.

Despite the humiliation, hardship and emotional pain, Tanaka said, good came from that tragic episode. "I met Mari (there)," he said. Their friendship blossomed, they married and, when permitted, returned to California to start their family. She died in August.

Tanaka worked nurseries, spent time on the ocean as a commercial fisherman, and by 1948 landed a lab internship position in Livermore. He impressed people, and made such a difference he found himself back in his birth town where he landed a job at Fresno General Hospital.

He then moved on to St. Agnes Hospital, where he worked roughly four and a half years before being lured to Madera's Dearborn Hospital in August of 1955. At Dearborn, Tanaka was in charge of all lab work, even X-rays. The hospital used to be where the Bank of America building now stands on Yosemite.

"That was a 24-7 job," he recalled.

It would only be a matter of time before he would find himself drawn into the world of law enforcement. Tanaka was on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day to draw blood from suspects and even from deputies hurt while trying to make arrests. The job was challenging and sometimes trying.

"I watched horrible scenes where suspects hit and kicked officers. I will never forget this one cowboy who kicked a deputy in the chest. Then there was the time four of us were trying to hold this one guy down and he still managed to kick a police officer in the face," he said.

When asked if he ever got hurt, Tanaka smiled and started to laugh and quietly stated that he was capable of holding his own. One thing he did say about his 48 years of service, "You gotta like your job and you have to like the people you do your job with."

"He always had a smile," said Anderson. "He always had a way of making others smile, even during some of the most intense situations."

Those with a sweet tooth could always count on Tanaka's bag of chocolates morning noon and night. He always had a candy bar for a deputy who didn't have time to eat.

"Bill was by far a formidable partner and worthy friend," said Anderson.