P.O. Box 901, Prosser WA 99350 /wspmemorialfoundation@gmail.com / 360.597.4411

Ivan L. Belka was born on April 8, 1913, in Coos Bay, Oregon to Herman A. Belka and Lilly May Abernathy. One of five children, Belka was raised in the Poulsbo area and attended North Kitsap High School.

 

As an adult, Belka worked in the sawmill section of a pulp mill in Port Angeles. He also served with the Port Angeles Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff's Office.

 

Belka married Mary Enos in Port Townsend on September 5, 1933, and welcomed their son, Ronald, in 1936.

 

Belka began his career with the Washington Highway Patrol on December 20, 1941, as a radio operator in Port Angeles. He transferred to Vancouver in 1942, where he was commissioned as a patrolman, assigned to Kelso. Patrolman Belka married his second wife Jean Elizabeth Bower, a nurse, in Spokane on June 5, 1942.

 

Patrolman Belka resigned in April 1948, to work with the National Auto Theft Bureau in Seattle. Patrolman Belka rejoined the Washington Highway Patrol in March of 1949, moving to Colville as an outpost patrolman.

 

Patrolman Belka died on August 18, 1951, at the age of 38. He died from injuries when a vehicle failed to yield to Patrolman Belka's patrol vehicle. Patrolman Belka had served 8-1/2 years with the Washington Highway Patrol.

 

Patrolman Belka had one son, Ronald, who was only 14 at the time of his father's death. They lived in Colville, and Patrolman Belka was heading into Spokane to get the radio in his patrol car fixed. He had promised to take Ronald with him. When Ronald woke up the next day, excited about riding into town with his dad, he discovered that his dad had left without him. Ronald waited all day for his dad to return, only to find out he would never be coming home.

 

Ronald passed away on December 14, 2009. Ronald and his wife, Barbara, had four children (Ronda; Ron Belka, Jr.; Avery; and Aaron). Aaron Belka passed away at the age of 41 in 2015. Ronda, Ron Jr., and Avery live in California.

 

Patrolman Belka was honored on August 18, 2021, for the 70th anniversary of his line of duty death. Flowers were placed at his memorial.