Global InformationSybil Plumlee information
Sybil Plumlee | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sybil Virginia Burgess April 29, 1911 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | January 6, 2012 (aged 100) Lake Oswego, Oregon, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Pioneering female officer and, before her death, the oldest surviving former member of the Portland Police Bureau |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | Louis Barker |
Sybil Virginia Plumlee (née Burgess; April 29, 1911 – January 6, 2012) was an American teacher, caseworker, and police officer who served in Portland, Oregon's Women's Protective Division, a special unit of the Portland Police Bureau, from 1947 to 1967. She is recognized as a pioneer in the law enforcement field, which has historically been dominated by men.
Born in Seattle in 1911, Plumlee attended high school in Portland and then graduated from Oregon Normal School, now known as Western Oregon University. She became a school teacher in Clarno, Oregon, but later returned to Portland, where she married and had a son. Following a divorce in 1943, she worked as an educator with the Ellis Mining Company in Bourne, Oregon. In 1945, she married Virgil "Paul" Plumlee, who died in 2010.
Plumlee wrote an unpublished memoir of her experiences on the police force, called Badge 357. At age 96, she published Stories of Hester Ann Bolin Harvey and Her Family, a collection of family stories and history. Plumlee was the oldest living former member of the city's police force prior to her death in 2012.