Alice Whitney

Policewoman Alice Whitney was the second female police officer hired by the Tulsa Police Department and she started in 1939. She helped with the investigation of Mrs. Carolann Smith, the Mistress of the Hex House in 1944.

Alice Whitney was born on the 20th of March 1904 in Custer City, Oklahoma as Alice Lurene Hinds. She married Wayne Whitney on June 1, 1923, in Oakhurst, Oklahoma. They had one child during their marriage. Wayne Whitney, Jr. was born on March 22, 1926.

The Whitney family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1930. Wayne got a job as a custodian for the Tulsa Public Schools. Before the depression Wayne had worked in manufacturing and before that he drove transportion trucks.

In 1939 Alice and Wayne Whitney divorced. Alice was informed of an opportunity to be hired as a police officer for The Tulsa Police Department. She was interviewed and tested, and beat out other candidates in becoming the second female police officer on the Tulsa force.

In 1944, Alice Whitney worked along side officers Beula Johnson and Bob Cleveland while investigating Mrs. Carolann Smith of the infamous Hex House.

Whitney survived a heart attack in the summer of 1959 at the age of 55. She was forced to retire. The police pension board did vote to provide her a disability pension in November of that year. On Saturday the 24th of December 1960 she had left her son's house and was driving home. She experienced chest pain and pulled off the road and parked. A person passing by stopped to see if she needed help. She had died of a heart attack at the age of 56. She was buried in Oaklawn Cemetary in Tulsa, Oklahoma.