Officer won't stop 'living his dream'
By FRANCES D. WILLIAMS
News-Press Staff Writer
s��illiam "COot"
:::�ell ]I. be
IN as
cer to retire from the Fort Myers
Police Department.
But he's the first
to admit he just
can't quit "living his
dream."
He's 62 and has
put in 25-plus years
since he was sworn
i n in S e p t e m b e r
1966. But instead of
turning in his badge
and uniforms and
FERRELL
putting away his
gun, he's taking his uniforms to the
cleaners and putting his gun in its
usual place. JAN l 7 m0,
After a six-week vacation WI"fh"!ls
wife Lila, he'll be right back at work
as a member of the Grandpa Cop;; -
a group of men who have retired
from departments all over the coun­
try, moved to Fort Myers and work
part time with the Fort Myers Police
Department
Police Chief Donna Hansen said
she will be sorry to see Ferrell retire,
but happy to have him in her Grand­
pa Cop division.
"He's my first officer to retire.
We all plan for retirement and look
forward to the day but while we wish
him well, we're really sorry to see
one go. But this story has a happy
"Me's an outstanding role model. We will
learn a lot with him as a Grandpa cop.
He'd be great working with kids in the
community. Or anywhere else he goes or
decides to do."
ending. Because even though he's
retiring, he's coming back on a part­
time basis as a Grandpa cop. I'm
very, very pleased that Coot's com­
ing back to us and to the cQmmu­
nity."
Capt. Larry Hart said Ferrell was
one of three black officers -includ­
ing Lewis Perkins, who took an early
retirement, and Charles Barnes, now
deceased - who "tore down a lot of
the barriers and made it possible for
other minorities to join the force."
"Officer Ferrell has always been
an outstanding officer and contrib­
uted a lot to the community," Hart
said. "He'd also been a great inspira­
tion in my law enforcement career,
helping me to want to achieve as
much as I could."
Hart said he watched Ferrell
when he was a child - and even
then, Hart said, he was impressed.
"He's an outstanding role mod­
el," Hart said. "We will learn a lot
with him as a Grandpa cop. He'd be
great working with kids in the com­
munity. Or anywhere else he goes or
decides to do."
Lila Ferrell said her husband has
loved his job.
"In the beginning, I worried a lot,
but it's just something you get used to
because you realize it isn't going to
solve anything," she said. "At first, it
was ha'rd on the. marriage but as the
years went by, it got better. Our lives
together have been beautiful."
there was so much discrimination in
-Capt. Larry Hart
She said she was mother and fa­
ther both to their two children for the
first few years because her husband
spent so much time on the job.
"Makes me think of the time
there was the father and son ban­
quets and I'd be the one to go with the
boys," she said, laughing. "I'm glad
he's retiring at an age when he can
still do things - even if it is as a
Grandpa Cop."
Ferrell said when he first got into
police work, black officers -what
few there were - were not allowed
to work in white neighborhoods.
· "It was a little town with different
problems," ne remembered. "When
you went to a scene, you knew every­
.one- there. Usually it was a family
fight or a drunk that we all knew so
we'd load hialAilil druh�im
home." � .&. l �
But it wasn't always laid back. On
two occasions he had to pull his gun,
and on two other occasions he shot it,
injuring but not killing the people he
was after.
"I've worked under five mayors,
five police chiefs and numerous
council members," he said, a grin
illustrating his good nature. "I got
along well with both black and white
officers. Whites were paid more than
blacks, but we were just happy to be
working."
He said he's watched discrimina­
tion and racism diminish over the
years.
"It was hard at first because
I
the white communities against black
officers but that's gone now," he said.
"Thank goodness."
He praised former chief Morgan
House as one of the finest men he's
ever known.
"Race meant nothing to him," he
said. "In 1968, he was the one who got
our pay adjusted so that race was no
longer a factor."
Ferrell said police work used to
be rougher and tougher.
"But I'll tell you,'people respect­
ed us more," he said. "And I'm not
talking about brutality. I'm just talk­
ing about doing a good job. It's all
different today. Children are the
most dangerous things facing offi�
cers now:"
Ferrell's son, William Ferrell III,
a trooper with the Florida Highway
Patrol in Broward County, said his
father was influential in his choice of
law enforcement as a career.
"My father is a very caring per­
son as anyone who knows him
knows," said his son. "My dad's very
proud of me and that makes me
extremely proud because I know I've
pleased him. He's just a good tnan
and it's too bad that everyone
couldn't have a father like mine."
Retirement won't be a problem
for the veteran police officer, said
Lila Ferrell.
"If he can't find something to do, I
guess I'll just have to find something
for him," she said. "Like maybe
cleaning up the house, then I imagine
he'll get pretty busy."
She said she loves to fish and
Ferrell got a rod and reel for retire­
ment and has promised to learn to
fish.
Ferrell said Thursday that re­
tiring put him "in a quiet mood."
"I feel the emotion boiling up
inside," he said. "I'm glad and I'm
sad, It's going to take some getting
used to- this retirement."