OROVILLE — Sally Childes Walker Glaude, the first Black sworn law enforcement officer in Butte County as well as the first sworn Black female officer north of Sacramento to the Oregon border, passed away at age 86 at Oroville Hospital on July 7 surrounded by her loved ones.
“Sally was one of the most credible persons I have ever met,” said Carol Johnson, a fellow Oroville High School classmate and life-long friend. “Her service (and) her path in life — through law enforcement, living, being a great example to others — were beyond others’ comprehension. She did it so willingly, easily, happily with such a strong conviction in what her mission for life would be.
“To summarize Sally’s life and achievements would be to use this anonymous quote, ‘To live is to adapt.’ This simple quote could have been Sally’s mantra as she lived her life successfully no matter what challenges she encountered.”
Glaude
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Nov. 18, 1937, Glaude moved with her parents, Myrtis and Robert Childes, and two sisters, Irma Childes and Ruby Childes, to Oroville in 1942. She graduated from OHS in 1955 and was inducted into the Oroville Union High School District Hall of Fame in 2022.
In 1956, after attending Yuba College for a few semesters, Glaude married Jasper Rodel Walker, a member of the U.S. Army, and moved to Colorado Springs. Soon after, her husband was deployed to Germany, and she and her two children moved to South Carolina, where her husband had relatives.
In 1958, Glaude was pregnant with her third child. Not wanting to give birth in a segregated South Carolina hospital, Glaude along with her two children boarded the train for Oroville, and her third child was born at Butte County Hospital three days after their arrival.
Later that fall, Glaude and her three children flew to Germany and in November 1959, her fourth child was born. Two years later, difficulties arose for her husband and they lost their government housing, but could not leave Germany until after her fifth child was born.
In November 1961, Glaude and her five children made a 12-day trip across the Atlantic from Germany to New York. Arriving with no money, she went to the Red Cross and was issued a plane ticket for San Francisco and a transfer for a Greyhound bus to Oroville, where she and her children moved in with her sister.
“She always said she had five children and one by choice. That was me,” said Toni Tyree. “That always made me feel special, especially after she legally adopted me when I was 26. I’d been with her since I was about 7, and I’m 63 now.
“She was a mother and a good friend. Everyone should have a friend and mother like her.”
Making history
After her arrival in Oroville, then-Sheriff Larry Gillick offered Glaude the job of running the concession stand at the little league baseball park on Wyandotte Avenue. She accepted the position and its salary of $100 a month. Her rent was $50 a month.
Three months later, Gillick decided to turn maintenance of the ballpark over to some of his staff and was planning on hiring some female deputies. He suggested that Glaude take the test, which she did, and successfully passed.
Glaude, who had neither a car or a driver’s license, enrolled in the Oroville Police Academy for her law enforcement training, as the sheriff department did not offer training to women at that time, according to her son Anthony Walker.
One morning as she left her home for her walk to the academy, Barney Gabriel, owner of a Yellow Cab taxi, was waiting for her. From that day until she graduated from the academy six weeks later, Gabriel provided Glaude free transportation to school. When Glaude graduated in 1962, she was president of her class and gave the commencement address.
“She was loved by many and she’ll be missed,” said Walker. “She touched a lot of hearts; a lot of people and people just loved her.”
On Sept. 18, 1962, Glaude was sworn in as a deputy — becoming the first Black law enforcement officer in the county and the first Black female officer in the state north of Sacramento. Through the years, Glaude’s deputy duties included dispatcher, jailer and court bailiff.
Highly regarded
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey first met Glaude when she was bailiff and he was a deputy district attorney; he continued to work with her after being elected district attorney. Ramsey describes the job of bailiff as “counselor, mediator, referee, traffic director, clerk, and the long arm of the law” — and said that Glaude filled all those roles with “grace” and “treated all those who appeared before her with dignity.”
“Sally knew how to keep the justice engine efficiently churning inside a chaotic courtroom,” said Ramsey. “Her ability to read people and their emotions made her the ultimate safety valve in otherwise tense situations in the courthouse. She knew how to calm defendants, witnesses, victims, irritable judges and obnoxious attorneys.
“Sally’s quiet strength of character kept order in the court. She taught a generation of judges and attorneys, including me, how to seek compassionate, fair and equal justice – with a smile.”
Her daughter Kathy Walker also remembers Glaude as someone who treated others well.
“Mom treated everyone equally no matter where they came from,” she said.
Another daughter, Vivian “Vickie” McGee, said her mom “walked her talk daily. She was the real deal. You knew she loved everyone fiercely.”
During her years as a Superior Court bailiff, Glaude served in the courtrooms of several now-retired judges, including Judge William Patrick, Judge Michael Kelley, Judge James Riley, Judge Lloyd Mulkey and Judge Jean Moroney among others.
While highly regarded among law professionals and prosecutors, Glaude was equally respected by defense attorneys, including Chico attorney Dennis Latimer, who described her as a “phenomenon who was deeply committed to fairness and the rule of law.”
“She was so incredibly professional,” said Latimer. “She was the perfect example of someone who believed in what she was doing and someone who believed in our due process of law.”
In 1970, eight years after joining the sheriff’s department, Glaude was selected by her colleagues as Officer Of The Year.
Glaude served as a deputy sheriff for 30 years until 1992. Following her retirement, she continued working parttime as a bailiff.
Patrick Enck, a retired Butte County court reporter, said his former colleague was a “personable, sweet and very religious lady who was easy to get along with.”
“She knew how to handle people. She was gentle but knew how to be firm,” said Enck. “She knew how to handle ‘the boys’ we put through the system. She’d just look at them and handle things well, no physical stuff.”
Faith and service
A life-long member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Glaude and other members fed area homeless families once a month and prepared food to deliver to other homeless throughout the area.
“She believed that she was doing what God wanted her to do with people,” said her daughter Margaret Walker. “She was loving, kind and compassionate.”
Retired sheriff’s deputy and colleague Vicki Simmons said she and Glaude “shared a deep faith in God and were believers in Jesus Christ.”
“She was a wonderful influence in my life in that regard,” said Simmons. “She sent me a devotional every day, including Sunday, which is the day she passed away. I have them all.”
Glaude was also associated with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Men’s Community Recovery Program, assisting men with moving forward with their lives.
“Mom impacted everyone’s life that got the opportunity to meet her,” said her son Raymond Walker.
Her husband, Steven Glaude, said she was the “the love of my life, my heart and the only person I truly loved.”
Glaude is survived by her second husband, Steven Glaude; her six children — Anthony Walker, Vivian McGee, Raymond Walker, Toni Tyree, Kathy Walker and Margaret Walker – as well as 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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