Man overcame disabilities to become cop

Those who Henry Kohley helped in life could easily see that his body was just a little bit off. His shoulder's weren't uniform. His fingers were curled. His hands hung just a bit crooked.

What most people didn't see were the burns on his legs that he suffered in an accident as a child. He was self-conscious enough about them so that he never wore shorts as a child or an adult.

But that didn't stop him from wearing the badge of a DuPage County deputy sheriff and probation officer for 38 years.

Mr. Kohley, a lifelong Wheaton resident, died June 28 from heart failure at the age of 80.

If anything, said Kohley's brother William, Mr. Kohley sometimes cared too much. It wasn't unusual for Mr. Kohley to bring a troubled boy home for mentoring while he supervised the kid on probation. At least once, he got a rock through his window for his troubles, William Kohley recalled.

He suspected his brother's faith and active life at St. Michael Church in Wheaton played a role in building up the determination and empathy that fueled his brother's professional life.

Indeed, Mr. Kohley was a past Grand Knight of the St. Michael Parish Knights of Columbus and attended many of the funeral services and wakes in the parish.

As a youth, he loved baseball and adding bowling trophies to his selves. Later in life, he played poker with friends and was particularly fond of euchre. It was a game he learned to play with his brothers on a farm when DuPage County was still mostly rural.

"When we moved from the farm to the city, that was a big change," William Kohley said. "We still had an outhouse at the farm. Now we had running water, inside toilets and everything."

Mr. Kohley fulfilled a longtime goal just last year when he traveled to London to visit his son, Jeffrey. Even though he required a wheelchair to get around, the two enjoyed all the sights of London and Paris together.

Visitation for Kohley is from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at the Williams-Kampp Funeral Home in Wheaton. Funeral services will be at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, which will be followed by a mass at St. Michael Church in Wheaton at 10 a.m. Kohley will be buried at St. Michael Cemetery in Wheaton.