In or about the summer of 1973 Joan received a letter from the MA State Police advising her to report for a physical agility test. This was the next phase after passing the written exam.
On the day of the test, Joan went to the MSP Academy in Framingham, MA and remembers just seeing guys everywhere. She remembered looking for other women and saw none. Following the crowd into the gymnasium, Joan saw a long line of men getting screamed at by the instructors. All she wanted to do was run away. She finally spotted a Police Woman in the corner, and rushed over to speak to her. She remembers asking, "Where are all the other women???!!!" and quickly understood she was the only woman taking the agility test that day. She was so intimidated at this point she wanted to leave.
Feeling terrified, she went to the back of the long line of men. Immediately, the last applicant in line turned to her with a scowl and full of contempt growled, "So you want to be a man, do you??" She didn't answer. Then, another applicant stepped aside, went to the back of the line, and stood behind Joan. He leaned forward and whispered to her, "Now at least you won't be the last one in line." That felt SO GOOD!! To this day, she wishes she knew his identity because she would like to thank him.
The instructors explained a series of tests to follow. The first test involved climbing a rope about 15' high without using one's legs. Joan watched applicants one after another try and fail. They were immediately sent home. She was glad this test was first because she knew that if most of the guys were failing here, she CERTAINLY could not pass. This made her very happy since she just wanted out of there!! She never felt more like a fish out of water than that moment.
She drove home to her parent's house, and walked into the kitchen with a huge smile on her face. Her mother instinctively exclaimed, "You passed!! You passed!!" She said with conviction, "NO! I FLUNKED AND I DON'T EVER WANT TO GO BACK THERE! I DON'T BELONG THERE!!" She just remembers how happy and relieved she felt that it was over.
Life went back to normal. Several months later, Joan was still taking college courses and working at Honeywell in Waltham, MA as a Computer Programmer. She worked in a huge room of cubicles separated by glass partitions. One day at work, she became aware of a stirring among the employees and whispers throughout the cubicles. The whispers grew louder and Joan started to hear, "The police are here, the police are here!" Very soon it turned into, "The State Police are here. They're here for Joan." Fellow workers started going to Joan's cubicle and whispering, "The State Police are here about you!" This went on for close to an hour. After the troopers left, her supervisors came to see her. "Joan, the State Police were asking about you!" That was all they told her.
She felt REAL EXCITEMENT which was strange because she thought she was done wanting anything to do with the State Police.
She went home and shortly thereafter received a letter stating a decision or ruling had been made regarding the agility test for women. The previous test had been deemed unfair. She was informed that she was eligible to try again.
Somehow, Joan was over the top excited!!!
I can't wait to read about the REAL agility test!