GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Throughout the month of September, the Women's Way Initiative in Grand Rapids will honor a different woman who made history in West Michigan each Wednesday night.
On Sept. 1, a ribbon cutting was held in an alley outside the Grand Rapids Police Department to celebrate the life of Harriet Woods Hill, who was the first Black woman to serve as an officer for GRPD.
Her family was in attendance to share their stories about the woman they knew as "Grandma Dear."
"Grandma Dear was the classiest, most intelligent, most well-spoken woman you will ever meet," said her grandson Todd Hill.
"She also didn't take any guff. She didn't suffer fools. She didn't tolerate lies. She taught our family the importance of character. Character first. Character second. Character last."
Despite not getting the chance to grow up with their great-grandmother, Todd's daughters Sophie and Catherine also say they've learned a great deal from Grandma Dear. Among those lessons is on of perseverance, or as Woods Hill called it, "stick-to-it-iveness."
"I've been raised to just stick to it and I've done a lot better with it because I used to be really bad with it," Sophie said.
Her family says Woods Hill worked a full-time job as a detective and raised a family and managed both beautifully.
"It's a shame that I never got to meet her. She was amazing," Catherine said.
JoAnn Davis is a retired police officer who served on the Grand Rapids Police Department from 1975 to 1994. She says Woods Hill trained her and taught her many important life lessons.
"She always taught me that you're to be respectful and give people dignity. Our job was to gather information and present it to the prosecutor. We were not to take saids," Davis said.
"I feel blessed that I could share this moment, and I hope that other women, either women of color, or any women that want to be a police officer, there is an opportunity out there."
Artist Jasmine Bruce painted the mural a year ago. She said it took two to three weeks to complete and seeing the family at Wednesday night's ceremony brought things full circle.
"Just to be able to take the time and also celebrate with her family, it's just so close to my heart that we were able to connect with them and they were able to share her story," Bruce said.
Bruce got involved with the Women's Way Initiative through one of its community partners, Lions & Rabbits, and she loves honoring the women who helped build West Michigan.
"Just to be able to rename an alleyway after a woman, because not many streets are named after women. That's pretty big that we're able to do that and continue to do that through this project. It's just one of many more that we'll be starting to honor local women in Grand Rapids," she said.
To learn more about the Women's Way Initiative, visit their website.
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