Thetus Knox had good instincts about people, which came in handy during her 34 year career as a police officer.
Former chief of police in Riverdale, she could spot trouble and just knew when somebody was trying to do the right thing, friends and family said.
“She could size up a person or situation pretty well,” said nephew Rance Allman II, of Birmingham. “Some of the cousins were afraid of her, I think. I wasn’t, but I also always did what she told me to do.”
Thetus Irene Allman Knox, of Atlanta, died Dec. 2 at her home after a period of illness. She was 63. A funeral is planned for 11 a.m. on Monday at Cascade United Methodist Church. Burial at Interment Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens will follow. Murray Brothers Funeral Home, Cascade Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.
Born in Birmingham, Knox took classes at the former Morristown College in Tennessee before transferring to Clark College in Atlanta, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1970. She continued her education later in life, earning a master’s of public administration from Columbus State University in 2009.
She began her career in public safety in 1973 as member of the Atlanta Police Department. Family members said Knox was the first female in APD history to serve in several roles, including field patrol sergeant, section commander of the criminal investigations division and zone commander. She was also among the first females to serve as lieutenant, to be appointed police major and deputy chief.
Knox’s work in Atlanta will never be forgotten, said friend and colleague Blanche Nichols. Among other things, Knox is credited with a major role in the redesign of Atlanta’s beats and zones and implementing new arrest procedures for the department.
“When she had Zone 4, that community knew her and she totally embraced community policing,” said Nichols, who is a retired APD major. “She didn’t use ‘community policing’ as a buzz word. She lived it.”
While working in Atlanta, Knox, then Thetus Allman, met the love of her life, Joseph “Jimmy” Knox, who was then a detective. The couple married in 1986 and remained so until he died in September.
Though Knox retired from APD in 2004, her police work didn’t end. In a matter of weeks, she accepted a job as the chief of police in Riverdale, the first female in that job. She retired from law enforcement in 2007.
“We were more friends than colleagues,” Nichols said. “But when she was interviewing for the job in Riverdale, she called me and said if she got the job, I’d have to come with her. And I said, ‘Oh sure!’ because it was hard for me to say ‘no’ to her. But then around two weeks later she called to say she got the job and there I went to Riverdale.”
“She was courageous, creative and competitive,” Nichols said. “She wanted to be the best she could be and whatever she did, she wanted it to be the best.”
Knox is survived by her mother, A. Estella Allman, and step-daughter, Felicia Knox Sanders, both of Atlanta; and one granddaughter.
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