Lt. Lula Ward, a familiar face at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, hung up her Sam Browne for good on June 30. Ward began her career as a civilian clerk in Driver Services and decided eight years later to go to patrol school. Upon her retirement, she became the first African-American female to retire from the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

“I have a sense of pride knowing that I have paved the way and proven it can be done,” Ward said.

M/Sgt. Billy Askew (ret.) was Ward’s supervisor as a testing clerk. He coached her on the MHP ladies’ softball team, also. “Lula often boasted she could do my job,” said Askew. “I laughed, told her she would have to go through patrol school and she could not handle it. Before I knew it, she was off to patrol school and I was out of a testing clerk and a hell of a left fielder.”

District Three Captain Roosevelt Howard was her classmate. He said she was tough and an excellent student in the classroom. “She did everything that we did,” said Howard. “She was lean and mean, one of us. She was able to mix it up pretty good when it came to boxing. She’d get knocked down, but she would get right back up.”

Since 1973, I’ve not only seen history made but I’ve lived history. - Lt. Lula Ward

After her graduation with Cadet Class 40 in December 1981, one of her field training officers was Lt. Johnny Bowden. “She was acclimated because she’d worked for us for a while,” Bowden said. “She was ready to go to work, and I knew that she was going to be a good trooper.”

Ward said she has seen amazing technological advancements during the past 25 years.

“I’ve seen things come about that we would never have imagined then,” Ward said. A driver’s license was about $2, hand-written, and on paper. The next version was type-written and included the operator’s photograph. Later came plastic, then lamination, and of course, now licenses are computer-generated with magnetic strips and bar codes that are produced by a system complete with facial recognition capability.

Also in her early years with MHP, motor vehicle reports were done by hand.

“When someone wanted a report, we had to go to a file cabinet, pull the folder, and write each violation,” Ward said. “What once took several minutes can be done now in seconds with a computer.”

Retirement once seemed as if it would never come, but the time has passed quickly, according to Ward.“I am glad that this point in my life is here, but I will miss the people; it’s been a satisfying career,” Ward said. “I have had the chance to help others, and that is a good feeling.”