Women in Kentucky - Law
Pearl Carter Pace: Born in 1896, Pace grew up in Tompkinsville in a very political Republican household. Her circuit judge father encouraged political debate around the dinner table. "As long as we did not get angry we could say anything we wanted," she later recalled.
Despite her early interest in politics, Pace had her doubts whether women should have the vote, fearing that they would simply cast their ballots as their husbands advised and thus merely doubling the returns. Life soon taught her the error of her supposition. In 1917 she married a Democrat, and although their political discussions undoubtedly were lively, Pearl remained a staunch Republican, insisting that any woman who studied the issues should—and would—form her own opinions.
Pace was involved in her children's school activities, the P.T.A., church societies, women's club, Eastern Star, VFW Auxiliary, and the Cumberland County Relief Program. In the late1920's, she and her husband formed a construction company.
In 1938, she was elected sheriff, succeeding her Democrat husband. Known as “Pistol-Packin' Pearl,” she spent most of her time chasing moon shiners and murderers. She once determined the guilt of a female moon shiner by having the accused empty a washtub of dirty water. There under the wet laundry she found several jars of illegal whiskey. She later explained that she knew the felon was no housewife because no self-respecting woman would wash both white and dark clothing in the same water!
In 1946, Pace was named Republican National Committeewoman for Kentucky. In Western Kentucky she told an audience: "Women will unite and stay united and work for the common welfare of us all--Republican Democrat or Democratic Republican."
Pace retired from public life in 1963 and died in 1970.
-- Nancy Disher Baird, Kentucky History Librarian, Library Special Collections, Western Kentucky University
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