ESTA DODRILL
State & County's First Woman Sheriff,
Esta Dodrill, Dies March 27 At Age 96

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    Dodrill had the distinction of having been elected as the first woman sheriff in Webster County, serving the term from 1960-64; and she was also the first woman in the state of West Virginia elected to the office of sheriff.

    She was born in Webster County on March 27, 1902, the daughter of the late George and Martha Ware Cowger. She was a homemaker and a member of the Point Mountain Church near Webster Springs.

    She is survived by: sons, Dudley of Sutton, Thamer of Ashland, Ky., and Harry of Tennesee Ridge, Tenn.; daughters, Kate Payne of Canton, Ohio, and Mary Jane Griffey of Grayson, Ky.; brother Hubert Cowger of Wapakoneta, Ohio; sister, Amy Robinson of Mansfield, Ohio; 15 grandchildren, and 21 great-grand-children. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Willard C. Dodrill, who died in 1968; and by three brothers, three sisters, and two grandchildren.

    Services were held on Tuesday, March31, at 2:00 p.m., at the Point Mountain Church, with the Rev. Jim Waldeck officiating. Burial was at Point Mountain Church Cemetery. The Greene-Robertson Funeral Home in Sutton, was in charge of the arrangements.

    The family would like to thank Webster County Sheriff Caroline Clayton and the Webster County Deputy Sheriffs for the part they had in the services.