10/28/2025
“She Wore the Badge” — Leona McMullen Paine, Oklahoma County’s First Woman Deputy
“My, but things certainly do turn out funny sometimes.”
So began the Daily Oklahoman’s February 5, 1942 article announcing the appointment of Mrs. Leona McMullen Paine as Oklahoma County’s first female deputy sheriff. The tone was light, almost playful, but the moment marked a quiet shift in local law enforcement history — one that would take decades to fully unfold.
Born November 23, 1893, in Washington State to Charles McMullen, a stone mason, and Minnie Nichols, Leona’s early life was shaped by movement and resilience. By 1910, the McMullen family had relocated to Henryetta, Ward 1, in Oklahoma. Leona married Andrew Harrison Paine, a Connecticut-born World War I veteran, on May 20, 1917. Together they raised two children, Clara and Harry, in Oklahoma City, where they lived for decades at 1600 NW 46th Street.
In the opening week of February 1942, Sheriff George Goff deputized 47-year-old Leona Paine as a Deputy. She wasn’t issued a firearm, but she was given a badge — and on October 27, 2025, that badge was rediscovered in a private collection, a tangible link to a pioneering moment in Oklahoma County history.
Leona’s appointment came during the expansion of the Oklahoma County Civil Guard, a wartime volunteer force that grew to over 4,000 members. Her role was primarily administrative: managing correspondence, coordinating enlistments, and serving as the Sheriff's secretary. But she also accompanied transport deputies when female inmates or patients were moved to state institutions — a duty that required both discretion and resolve.
The Oklahoman article captured the novelty of her appointment with a mix of admiration and teasing. “Other deputies have been offering to lend her their guns and let her help chase tire or sugar thieves,” the reporter wrote, “but she’s sticking to her own desk job.” The piece noted that Paine had started her career 29 years earlier as a secretary in a Pinkerton detective office in Chicago. This detail added a touch of noir to her otherwise quiet civic service.
“There has been a definite need for a secretary to manage the office,” the article continued. “Work has increased greatly with the organization of the county’s civilian defense forces. Mrs. Paine is acquainted with the work and will be very helpful.”
Her appointment filled a vacancy left by a departing male deputy. While it was a bold move for its time, it would take nearly 36 years before another woman appeared in the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office archives. From the early 1980s onward, however, the department saw a significant growth in women behind the badge — a legacy that traces back to Paine’s quiet trailblazing.
In April 1942, Leona also became Captain of the Oklahoma County American Red Cross First Aid Detachment, further deepening her wartime service. Though her name faded from official records after the war, her legacy endured.
Leona McMullen Paine died on February 12, 1970, and is buried at Resthaven Gardens Cemetery in Oklahoma City. Her husband, Andrew, preceded her in death in 1965 and is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
