“Certainly we will miss Chief O’Dell’s outstanding leadership of our Kettering Police Department,” said Mark Schwieterman, Kettering city manager. “With 30 years of dedicated service to our community comes an abundance of historical knowledge and deep, deep ties to the men and women of the Kettering Police Department and the residents of Kettering.”
O’Dell grew up in Jamestown, New York, the youngest of five children in an Irish-Catholic family. He earned a bachelor of business degree, and a master of business education from Emporia State University in Kansas. He graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
O’Dell started his career in Lakewood, a 95,000-resident suburb of Denver, Colo. His ultimate goal was to become a police chief, and he happened to have lunch with two Kettering officers in Orlando, Fla., where he was lecturing for the Teacher’s Association. They told him that Kettering was looking for a chief.
“I said to myself, ‘Where is Kettering, Ohio?’ I was intrigued, investigated, and turned in my application in November of ’84,” said O’Dell. “I came back in January of ’85. I remember it being so cold, but I fell in love with the community.”
So his moved to Ohio with his wife, Sharon, and three children who were then 14, 12, and 9. One of the reasons he wanted to work in Kettering was that Bob Walker would be his boss.
“He was an exceptional human being and an extraordinary manager. I really owe him a big part of my success due to his mentoring in that quiet, unassuming way of his,” said O’Dell.
He indicated that he felt his best professional decision was coming to Kettering, and he always enjoyed showing up for work.
“He showed strength and leadership, but there was always a layer of kindness,” said Mary Azbill, O’Dell’s former accreditation manager and secretary.
He may be retired, but he is still working as a management consultant with The Kettering Group. He’s had a number of clients, and he’s already advised business people all over the country.
But he will have a lot more leisure time. He is planning on biking the California coast in wine country. He will be traveling 60 miles a day for about five days.
“I like the solitude and quiet, and competing against myself,” said O’Dell.
He’s been an avid jogger for the past 54 years. He calls himself a ‘trotter‘ now. The 68-year-old has undergone two total knee replacements. But that doesn’t keep him off the handball courts. He plays the fast-paced game at UD with retired professors.
“I’ve had a great career that I’ve loved, and people I’ve met. But when one door closes, the other one opens,” said O’Dell. “The best of my life is the rest of my life.”
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