Cedar Rapids PD, Iowa’s first sworn woman officer remembered

CEDAR RAPIDS - Female recruits at the Cedar Rapids Police Department these days never truly will know the challenges Mary Armbrecht not only faced, but overcame.

They won't be forced to wear a skirt for a uniform instead of slacks, or carry their sidearm in a purse instead of a holster. They'll likely never hear the angry words of a wife suspicious over her husband patrolling with a woman partner.

They won't be looked at as a novelty or an experiment.

They won't have to face those obstacles because of the work of the women who paved the way ahead of them - women such as Armbrecht, who was the first sworn police officer in Cedar Rapids and in the state of Iowa.

Armbrecht, 74, died on Sunday and her service was held Thursday at St. Wenceslaus Church in Cedar Rapids. She was remembered as a strong and caring woman, inside and out of the police department.

'Mary was a pioneer,” recalled Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, who knew Armbrecht from their time together on the force.

According to Armbrecht's daughter, Crystal Greiner of Swisher, Armbrecht never set out to make state and city history, though public service was probably in her blood.

Born in Cedar Rapids on June 27, 1940, to Monica Gaskill and former Cedar Rapids Fire Chief Harry Gaskill, Armbrecht initially was a stay-at-home mother, Greiner said.

That changed when Armbrecht and her husband divorced, she said.

'My mom was a very strong woman,” Greiner said. 'She raised us to kids alone. She was a very independent woman.”

Armbrecht's job search led her to the CRPD. On July 15, 1969, she and Dorothy Hadish were sworn in as the department's first female officers.

According to a 1995 Gazette article, it was two more hires before any other women were brought on, and Hadish left the department after only a few months. Hadish later became a security officer at St. Luke's hospital.

Armbrecht was assigned to the department's youth bureau, which responded to cases involving anyone under the age of 18.

'She loved working with the kids,” Greiner said. 'She wanted to help all of the kids. She worked with kids who were homeless, kids who were in trouble.”

‘The straps would break'

At the time, uniformed female officers wore skirts and carried their guns in a purse. Armbrecht went through 'many, many purses” during her career.

'The straps would always break,” Greiner recalled.

Lou Stepanek, a 35-year veteran of the department who retired in 1990 and was Armbrecht's supervisor for a time in the youth bureau, said Armbrecht was 'an excellent officer.”

'She, being the first female officer in the state, set a real example,” Stepanek said. 'Mary was a shining example of doing what was right.”

Stepanek said hiring a female officer was a bit of an experiment, and there were concerns among some in the department about a woman working in an all-male field. It promoted 'scandalous talk,” he said.

None of that ever got to Armbrecht.

'She absolutely handled that just perfectly,” he said.

Armbrecht continued to make history at the department during her career. Four years after she was hired, she was the first woman in the department who was promoted to detective. She retired on June 30, 1995.

'It's been an interesting career,” she told The Gazette at the time. 'There were never two days alike. There's always something different happening.”

Even when she was hired in 1983, Hamblin said women in the department occasionally had to fight for fair treatment. While Armbrecht was never the face of those battles, she was there, nonetheless, Hamblin said.

'She was a trailblazer,” Hamblin said. 'She wasn't going to be the lead dog in the fight, but she was going to be in the scraping.”

Greiner said her mom worked at the Time Out Lounge as a bartender for 10 years after leaving the department before retiring for good. She stayed in Cedar Rapids, but was one of the many residents whose property was damaged by the 2008 floods.

Greiner said her mother loved spending time with her children and grandchildren and tending her garden. She always was the first person to call a loved one on their birthday and sing to them, Greiner said.

'She always had a smile on her face,” Greiner said. 'She was always farm and friendly to everyone she met ...

She was very well-respected and she was always warm and friendly.”