Valerie Ann Tartaglino

Val was born July 29, 1946, in McKinney, Texas. As a child, she was blessed with a great imagination and an environment that supported it and made it prosper. She was a mother, a grandmother, a sister, and defender of all creatures great and small.

Val worked in the Sheriff's Department in Dallas County where she rose to the position of captain during her thirty-year tenure. In 2000, she retired from that position and moved to her beloved farm in Wise County where she pursued one of her great passions, the care of her other family, a variety of animals that kept her company and entertained her constantly.

It was also in Wise County where she made lifelong friends with the Over the Hill Gang, a group of avid cowgirls that rode and camped not only in the adjacent LBJ Grasslands but also venues across multiple states. Her other passion, travel, took her to all seven continents where she combined her love of horseback riding and the study of exotic creatures. She had adventures with elephants in Thailand and India, orangutans in Borneo, Andalusian horses in Spain, camels in the Outback of Australia, Mountain Gorillas of Uganda, and penguins in Antarctica, just to name a few. She was always ready for her next adventure or the rescue of her next pet, and bravely ventured around the world even in illness until her strength finally left her. She never backed down from a challenge, and her bravery was admired by all those who knew and loved her. She was a writer, a painter, a musician and a veracious reader.

Perhaps no words can describe this extraordinary life other than her own that she wrote in one of her meticulously documented travel journals, "External events may be hammer and file, torch and douse, but we create the mold into which we pour ourselves. Cratered by tragedy, burnished with laughter, peppered with irony, stung by desire, the vessel we pull from the bright crucible of our imagination is unique but never quite finished. Every artist seeks a more perfectly crafted work."

Val is survived by her beloved daughter, Rene, and her two grandchildren, Austen and Valerie Dornich. She is also survived by her two sisters, Susan Tartaglino and Nancy Tartaglino Richards, and her brother, Jerry Tartaglino and his wife, Dena. She will be greatly missed by her nieces, Kati and Gigi Tartaglino and her nephews, David Richards and Stewart Richards, and his wife Jennifer. Numerous cousins, friends, and associates know that she was one-of-a-kind and will miss her stories around family tables and friends' campsites. She was beautiful, brave and passionate. The family is grateful to all the loyal friends that weathered the storm of the last two years at her side.

The celebration of her life will take place in the chapel on the family ranch in Palo Pinto County. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in honor of Val Tartaglino at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, outside of Eureka Springs, AR, and can be made online at www.turpentinecreek.org.

Coker-Hawkins Funeral Home, Decatur, Texas, 940/627-5959

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Val was a great friend....we will miss her.

Mona Birdwell

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Capt. "Val" Tartaglino entered my life in 1994. I was in my early 20's and bright eyed, she gave me the courtesy of an interview in a good ol' boy system, where who you knew got you further than what you knew. I was allowed into the wild world of Central Intake and my career began. She had an open door and an open mind. I always felt that she would listen to any issues I had, personal or professional. While she rarely provided solutions, she allowed me to talk and come up with my own ideas and ways to figure it out. These are true skills of a leader and mentor. In that uniform, hair pulled back in a severe bun and tight lipped, she appeared to be all business. But ask her about her daughter, her garden or mention animals and there was a true light in her eyes.

Her legacy is her life outside law enforcement. Many live this life until their end. Val had boundaries and when she worked, she worked very hard. But when the "work" ended and real life began, I believe she worked even harder.

What a light she has left in so many people. I am proud to have known her, and grieving with those who love and miss her.

Aimee Jordan, CJO
Dallas County Sheriff's Academy

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I worked with Val from 1980 until 1995 at DSO, she was a great supervisor and a good person. She helped so many new employees and was really well liked and respected. She will be missed.

Marilyn Baker
Sulphur Springs,Tx

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I am so sorry to hear about Val's death. We attended Bellevue High School together for a short time and did not know each other well, but had corresponded off and on over the last ten years. I was so looking forward to seeing her at our 50th reunion next year. I also enjoyed the pictures she sent of her daughter, Rene,(as beautiful as her mother) and her beloved horses. Please accept my condolences to all of Val's family and friends.

Sincerely,
Dianne Jones

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A true friend and always a positive influence...... she will truly be missed.

Cpl. G Bowen
West Baton Rouge S O

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I was so sorry to hear that Val had passed. Please convey my condolences to her family and especially to Rene', her daughter.

I went to Bellevue High School for one year with Val and we did not know each other then, but we became friends years later when I located her while working on class reunions. Over the years we wrote back and forth through Facebook and she sent me pictures of Rene', and also of her horses and a little about her career, but she was always a very private person which I respected. We quietly became friends and I had hoped to see her if she ever returned to the NW.

With deepest regards to her family.

Dianne Jones NW Cardco Distributing, Inc.
3003 Northup Way, Ste. 202
Bellevue, WA 98004
425-867-5200
425-881-8338 f

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