By Mark Zaborney
The Blade
TOLEDO, Ohio — Jennifer R. Wilson, among the first group of women sworn in as Toledo firefighters and who later was known for her calm manner as a fire dispatcher, died Sunday in ProMedica Toledo Hospital. She was 57.
She had cancer the past 14 months, her daughter Charlisa said, and learned her diagnosis less than two weeks after retiring from the city as a dispatcher.
A 1977 graduate of Woodward High School, she attended Fisk University in Nashville for a time. She returned to her hometown in part to sign up for the fire service.
“She’d always dreamed of being a firefighter,” her daughter said. Ms. Wilson and eight other women were sworn in as firefighters on May 11, 1984, ending a 146-year city practice of employing only men on the force. Toledo by court order had begun to increase the number of minority firefighters.
No such order existed for hiring women, but a local nonprofit advocacy law firm warned that discrimination against women would result in a lawsuit, the city’s safety director, C.E. “Gene” Riser, told The Blade in 1984, explaining the decision to hire Ms. Wilson and the others.
“She told me she was very excited and proud to serve her city,” her daughter said.
Members of that class remained close, including Geraldine McCalland and Ms. Wilson. They were among the newcomers to Station 19 on Stickney when Charles Anderson, a veteran of more than a decade, joined the B shift at the fire house.
“Firefighters, we spend a third of our lives with a crew, and you get close,” said Mr. Anderson, who retired 19 years ago as a fire investigator. The men on the crew hadn’t worked with women before Ms. Wilson and Ms. McCalland.
“It turned out that Jennifer and Geraldine really put their heart into what they were doing,” Mr. Anderson said. “The crew didn’t do things to help them because they were female. It’s what we do. We’re there to cover each other.”
Ms. Wilson later took a transfer to the fire dispatch office. Her nickname was “Golden Tones,” said Mr. Anderson, who also worked with her in dispatch. “No matter what the situation was — it gets hectic up there — she kept the same mellow tone throughout the dispatch.”
She sang alto in church choirs — Mount Zion Missionary Baptist and, most recently, United Missionary Baptist, where she was a member. She performed with the Toledo Interfaith Mass Choir and the Johnnie Love and Co. gospel music group.
At the Lucas County Fair, she sold roasted sweet corn from her booth, called FireLady Corn. She read every installment in the Harry Potter series, often venturing to midnight book-release events.
She was born May 3, 1959, to Dorothy and James R. Wilson.
Surviving are her son, Charles E. Hutchen III; daughters, Alicia Criss and Charlisa Blackshear; brother, James R. Wilson, Jr.; sister, Pamela R. Wilson, and 10 grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday in the C. Brown Funeral Home Chapel, with a Last Alarm service at 7 p.m. A family hour and wake will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by funeral services at 11 a.m. at United Missionary Baptist Church.
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