| Notes |
- Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, 13 Sep 1953
Busy Woman Town Marshal Finds Time To Take Care of House, Too
by Bill Toran, Gazette Correspondant
IOWA CITY--University Heights, adjacent to Iowa City, has a woman marshal who performs her duties efficiently, besides taking care of her house.
She is Mrs. Roy J. Winders, wife of an Iowa City businessman.
In the fall the marshal can be seen zooming up and down Melrose avenue on her silver motor cycle, directing traffic. This is one of her principal duties, since University Heights is at the rear of the Iowa stadium, and thousands of cars converge on the town on days when there is a football game.
On football days Marshal Winders is assisted by seven or eight private police from Cedar Rapids, who work under Kyle Mills.
Mrs. Winders explains how she happened to become a marshal.
Almost 12 years ago, when University Heights was a budding town, Mr. Winders was on the town council.
The Winders' were talking about the various town offices one day, and the marshal job came up in the conversation. Mrs. Winders remarked casually: "That's the only thing I'd want to do."
Before she knew it, she was offered the job by the mayor. A civic-minded person, she accepted. Up to now she has served under three mayors.
Being a town marshal is not like being an honorary Kentucky colonet. Any time of the day or night Mrs. Winders may be called out to take care of stray dogs, or prowlers, or even people squabbling. Not that University Heights is a trouble spot. On the contrary, the community of approximately 500 persons is one of the finest residential areas in the vicinity of Iowa City.
CAN HANDLE WEAPONS
Mrs. Winders characterized her job as a "walking information service."
Even so, Mrs. Winders is capable of meeting emergencies. She knows how to handle weapons. "If I'm called out at night," she says, "I don't want to take any chances, I have a shotgun I like real well." Besides, she has a pearl-handled .38 caliber revolver, which she received from her uncle, who was on the Kansas City, Mo., police force years ago.
The marshal is hardly a "pistol packin' mama." Sitting on her spacious, well-kept lawn, she looks like the average housewife. She is of medium height, has a charming personality. As a matter of fact, one of her proudest accomplishments is her needlepoint, and eight beautiful antique chairs which she has covered are testimony of the find needlepoint work she has done.
Moreover, she is a registered nurse, a graduate of the University of Iowa.
CYCLE ENTHUSIAST
WHen this versatile woman talks about motorcycling, her eyes sparkle. "I like my motorcycle better than anything," she says. Frequently on Sundays she rides to Hampton, Waverly and other Iowa towns to visit friends.
Her son, Gary, who attended the University of Iowa, also is a motorcycle enthusiast. At prsent he is in the army, stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., a heavy artillary center. "When he gets out of the army," she says, "we plan to take a three-month trip on our motorcycles, out to California and Canada. That'll be in about a year and a half."
SAD-EYED BLOODHOUND
Another member of the Winders' household is Portia, who, like her namesake, also is associated with the law. Portia is a big, 6-year-old bloodhound, an efficient tracker the Winders have raised from a pup. Mrs. Winders prefers not to speak of the several times Portia has been called for duty.
Mrs. Winders has lived in Johnson county since about 1920. Formerly she lived in Ackley. Her father, Eli Behrens, was marshal there for eight years. Mrs. Winders still has a star and a billy club given her by her father. So it's not quite by accident that she, too, has become a marshal.
|
1896 - Yes, date unknown