Smith: Late honor for hero hurt in fatal Jenner shooting

Not many of us will remember the black, black night near seaside Jenner 40 years ago when a malignant ex-con executed a deputy sheriff and new father named Merrit Deeds.

Rex Nance remembers, painfully. That summer of 1975, the 36-year-old Nance was working for PG&E and at his family’s general store in Cazadero. He also savored his several years of service as a reserve Sonoma County deputy sheriff.

Though he was not on duty late that night of Aug. 23, something happened that tore him apart, literally and emotionally, and distinguished him as a peace officer willing to risk all to attempt to protect others.

The Sheriff’s Office has just apologized to Nance, now 76, for the delay and presented him its Gold Medal of Valor for what he did in the final minutes of the life of his friend and partner, Deputy Deeds.

Nance wore civilian clothes, drove his pickup and carried a pistol in his waistband as he left Jenner shortly before 11:30 p.m. and headed inland on State Route 116. Not far past the Highway 1 bridge at Bridgehaven, he spotted Deeds’ patrol car parked on the shoulder, ahead of a green Oldsmobile.

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COMING CLOSER, it appeared to Nance that two men were scuffling. He parked and exited his truck. He heard Deeds yell: “Rex, he’s got a gun!”

With that, a convicted felon named Robert Shirey opened fire with both a 9 mm pistol and the .357 revolver he’d taken at gunpoint from Deeds. Shirey shot Deeds twice at close range, killing him.

Nance was hit before he could draw his pistol. Shirey fired at him repeatedly; five bullets struck the reserve deputy.

The shooter returned to the Olds, occupied by two accomplices. The car sped toward Guerneville, then made a U-turn and headed toward Highway 1 and Bodega Bay.

Nance would eventually undergo more than 40 surgeries. And he would soon learn that his slain friend Merrit had pulled to the shoulder of 116 that horrible night to see if the people in the car needed help.

Deeds had no way of knowing that Shirey and the other two men had picked up two runaway teens and that Shirey was intent on molesting them.

Shirey got the jump on Deeds and disarmed him. He was threatening to kill him as Nance pulled up.

A short time later, CHP Sgt. Arnold Pederson and Officer Jack Symons spotted the Olds on Bodega Highway, east of Freestone. The car tried to elude them, pulling into a driveway on Barnett Valley Road.

By this time, Shirey had pulled a shotgun from the trunk. His plan, if stopped by police, was to open fire through the rear window.

But he was blinded by the lights of the CHP car. When he saw Symons and Pederson flanking the Olds with their guns drawn, Shirey knew he was done.

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HE WAS CONVICTED of first-degree murder and other charges. He died in prison.

Deputy Deeds, who was only 32, was buried at Windsor’s Shiloh Cemetery. Just last year, the state Legislature named a 5-mile stretch of Route 116 near Jenner the Deputy Sheriff Merrit W. Deeds Memorial Highway.

And days ago, former Reserve Deputy Nance gratefully, somberly accepted the highest honor bestowed by the Sheriff’s Office. Late, but worlds better than never.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.