JULY 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 7

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