FLAGLER/PALM COAST NEWS-TRIBUNE
Palm Coast, Florida
Saturday, January 3, 2004

FEMALE LAW ENFORCEMENT PIONEER DIES
By Ron Koch, Staff Writer

BUNNELL - Judith Rebecca Tucker, the first woman to serve as a road deputy at the Flagler bounty Sheriff's Office, died Tuesday night at home. She was 66.

Though she retired in 1998 after serving more than 25 years, Tucker had become a familiar face to many Flagler County residents because she spent the final years of her career serving court notices while heading up the Sheriffs Office's Civil Division under then-Sheriff Robert McCarthy.

One of her four daughters, Brenda Judd of Bunnell, said her mother set an example for other women wanting to pursue ca­reers in law enforcement.

She's "always been a tough lady," Judd said. "She made us all tough, too."

Tucker began her career at the Sheriff’s Office as a dispatcher, and worked her way through the ranks, eventually becoming a road deputy under then Sheriff Dan Bennett. She returned to the Communications Division and became its supervisor under McCarthy.

Judd took her mother's lead, becoming a police officer in South Daytona in 1979 and joined Tucker at the Sheriff's Office in 1984. 

"I wanted to follow in her footsteps," said Judd, who left law enforcement in the late 1980s.

Another of her daughters, Judy Daughtry of' Bunnell, described Tucker as a "woman's woman." She agreed that her mother's career was very important to her.

Being a police officer, "it was her whole life," Daughtry said.

Growing up as one of 11 children, including seven brothers, one of whom was her twin, helped build, strong family ties, Tucker's daughter, Diane Stomber of South Daytona said.
"She was always there when we needed her," Stomber said.

A native of Greensboro, N.C., she moved to this area in 1963.

She was a member of Bible Baptist Church in Palm Coast. She enjoyed arts and crafts, scrap­books, ceramics and especially gardening and tending to her fishpond.

Survivors include four daughters, Judith Daughtry and Brenda Judd, both of Bunnell, Mary Brill, Palm Coast, and Diane Stomber, South Daytona; her twin brother James Leonard, Raleigh, N.C., and brother, Robert, Gibsonton; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to Bible Baptist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 350986 Palm Coast, FL 32135-0986.

Craig Flagler Palms, Flagler Beach is charge.