Jeff Dahn (past member of HacDC and HacDC Amateur Radio Club) Memorial Service

[W3HAC Hacdc Ham Radio Club]

Jeffrey Allen Dahn - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Jeffrey Allen Dahn (KB3ZUK), age 54, of Harrisburg, PA passed away quietly in his sleep on July 22, 2024, following a long battle with a rare, chronic disorder called Dercum’s Disease. It was difficult for him to perform day-to-day functions, but his deep faith in God kept his spirits high. 

He is survived by his wife Karen (Hawley) Dahn, children Alexander Christian and Sophia Marie Dahn, his mother Ellen (Duncan) Klein, stepfather Gary Klein, and was a good friend to countless people whom he met during his life’s journey. Jeff and his family had recently moved from Rockville, Maryland to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

A memorial service for Jeff will be held in Maryland at Church of the Redeemer in the South Chapel on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. People may arrive starting at 10:00, with the service commencing at 11:00. The address is:     

19425 Woodfield Road                                                                      

Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879

It will be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend in person. A reception will follow in the church social room. https://church-redeemer.org/funeral/

Jeff was born on March 17, 1970 in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, to Wayne Thomas Pickarski and Ellen Christine (Duncan) Pickarski. After Wayne’s discharge from the Army, the family moved back to their home in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area. His mother divorced Wayne, later marrying William Dahn, who adopted Jeff and gave him his surname.

As a young boy, Jeff studied various styles of martial arts, and at the age of 18, he began teaching Karate lessons at the local YMCA. This spurred a lifelong love of martial arts, where in later years he became a defensive tactics instructor for police officers. 

After graduating from Humboldt High School, he joined the Army Reserves. At age 21, he was deployed to the Pentagon in Washington D.C., where he worked as a legal specialist for the Judge Advocate General Corp. One notable achievement won him a medal for typing over 750 wills and powers of attorney for soldiers departing for active duty in only four days.

In 1991, while stationed at the Pentagon and living in Arlington, Virginia, Jeff joined White Birch School of Kung Fu. There he met his future wife, Karen Hawley, who was studying tai chi. The two were married on October 10, 1992, and resided in the Washington, DC area for many years. 

Jeff's law enforcement career began around that time with a ride-along with a local police officer. He found the experience fascinating, and applied to the Metro Transit Authority’s police department. He attended Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy to obtain his credentials. Because the Metro system reached into Washington, Maryland, and Virginia, he became certified in all three jurisdictions. 

While the Metro Transit Police Department was a good place to begin his career, he wanted to move into community policing. He switched to the Leesburg Police Department in Virginia, and then moved to Edmonston, Maryland’s municipal department. 

The position of chief of police there became available and Jeff rose to take on that challenge. He modernized the department, expanded the community policing outreach program, and began working towards his college degree. He matriculated at The Johns Hopkins University while working full-time, eventually earning a graduate degree from the Police Executive Leadership Program there. Jeff then moved to a larger department, District Heights, where he was chief for a year and a half. 

Always looking for a new challenge, he was offered opportunities to work in the private security sector. He was a Managing Director with Vance Security U.S.A. Corp., a Project Manager at MVM, Inc., and an Interim Program Manager at Paragon Systems. While he enjoyed these positions, he found he missed the essence of community police work. His last post before becoming ill was with Capitol Heights. 

Jeff contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite, which may have triggered the latent Dercum’s Disease symptoms to emerge. He retired and poured his energies into his church, his family, his love of technology, and a new hobby: ham radio. It was through church and his hobby that he made a host of new friends. 

He joined an online Mens’ Group at Church of the Redeemer where he was known for his outgoing nature. He epitomized the term “Minnesota nice” and he easily made friends in every area of his life. He was always ready to help a person in need. Friend or stranger; it mattered little to him. He demonstrated this in his efforts to promote community policing, where his officers were encouraged to get to know the townsfolk through outreach programs he created, as well as offering advice or encouragement to others in his Mens’ Group.

Although his children might not have always appreciated it at the time, Jeff gave advice to them about the things he felt were important in life. When deciding a path towards a goal, he would often ask, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” He learned that phrase in his program at Johns Hopkins and it resonated with him for the rest of his life. Because of his illness, he felt his time to impart fatherly advice might be shortened so he wanted to fit as much wisdom into their lives as he could. 

When he died, a ham friend helped his widow sort and donate Jeff’s radio gear and used technological equipment to Project Malawi in southeastern Africa. It will be used to help students learn how to operate ham radios, repair and use technology, and improve the quality of life in their villages. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Project Malawi can be made at: https://www.w3hac.org/project-malawi/

We couldn’t have asked for a better father, son, and husband, and will miss Jeff every day. His memory will live on in the hearts of all those who loved him.