In tribute: Local lawman Sandy Loomis 'relentless but fair'

They worked in law enforcement together for 25 years. Mike Reeves gets emotional when he talks about his friend, Sandy Loomis.

"I don't mind if you tell people that," Reeves said. "Asking about Sandy makes me miss him."

"Sandy Loomis was one of the finest men and the finest lawman I have ever known," Reeves said.

"There was no Sandy Loomis the man, the myth, the legend. He was the man, the legend, no myth."

Loomis died Feb. 5, just a little over two weeks away from his 68th birthday.

"Sandy had a motto," Reeves said. '"Ride hard, shoot straight and tell the truth.' He finished every correspondence with that and his signature. And he lived by that."

Reeves said Loomis will long be remembered as a relentless investigator.

"If he got on your trail for breaking the law you might as well just give up," Reeves said.

But he was also fair.

"He would work hard to convict someone but he worked just as hard to exonerate someone," Reeves said.

"Sandy Loomis was all the good things about Wyatt Earp incarnate," Reeves said. "He was a cowboy lawman."

According to Loomis' obituary he was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1954. He graduated from Capitan High School in Lincoln County in 1972 and then joined the U.S. Air Force where he worked in law enforcement.

After 20 years, Loomis retired from the military.

"He immediately began a career with the Curry County Sheriff's Office in March 1993," Curry County sheriff Wesley Waller wrote in remembering Loomis.  "Sandy retired on December 31, 2019 as the Chief Investigator for the Sheriff's Office."

Sandy was not only a coworker of mine, but also was one of my closest friends," Waller wrote. "My family adored him."

"Several years ago, Sandy was the only person I could find that was brave enough to give my daughter her driving test," Waller wrote.  "They both survived the experience unscathed."

"I miss his humor, counsel and camaraderie every day," Waller continued.  "He had a larger-than-life personality and was very respected by the law enforcement and judicial communities." 

 "Sandy was the primary crime-scene investigator for this region of the State, and for many years investigated most of the high-profile crimes in our community," Waller wrote.  "Sandy had a passion for seeking justice for victims and their families, and a relentless work ethic."

 Waller wrote that Loomis' legacy "will continue through his children, grandchildren and those he mentored to follow in his footsteps." 

 Waller also remembered Lommis' "motto."

"Sandy's watchword was, 'Ride hard, shoot straight, tell the truth.' His life on earth perfectly exemplified this idiom."

After Loomis retired from the Curry County Sheriff's Department his remaining years were spent traveling the state hunting, fishing and watching his grandsons play football, his obituary reports.