JULY 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 7

TEXAS GAME WARDENS WOMEN

TEXAS GAME WARDENS WOMEN JOIN THE RANKS Thirty-nine women are Texas game wardens today, serving in counties across the state. In the 1920s, Cordelia Jane Sloan Duke became the first (appointed) female Texas game warden. The land around her homestead was designated as a wildlife sanctuary that annually hosted thousands of wild ducks. In 1979, Stacy Bishop Lawrence became the first female game warden to graduate from the Texas Game Warden Academy. This was one of the first years the academy was held in Austin. “The first time I applied I was rejected, because I would not have been 21 by graduation,” Bishop Lawrence says. “I had to wait almost four years for the next application process. Back then, TPWD received approximately 3,000 applications for 30 to 40 positions. Competition was brutal. Somehow, someway, I made it through the application process.” In September 1978, Bishop Lawrence began her study with the 33rd Game Warden Academy; only three of the 38 cadets were female. “The training was tough,” Bishop Lawrence says. “Unfortunately, one of the females quit soon after training began; the second left about a third of the way through.” Alone in a class full of guys, she says she was “too stubborn” to try to be friends. “It took one of my classmates to break the ice, and the door was opened,” she says. “To this day, I deeply appreciate the friendships and the camaraderie that evolved.” 66 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 67 66 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 67 66 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 67