A trailblazing once-Catholic nun who then grew to become one of many first ladies sworn in as an FBI particular agent died final week on the age of 83.
Joanne Pierce Misko — who earned the long-lasting nickname “Nun with a Gun” — died at a hospital in Wheatfield, New York, from a lung an infection, her brother informed The Washington Submit.
Misko made historical past a number of instances all through her storied profession, which concerned making the unbelievable leap from a bride of God to a girl of the legislation.
The legislation enforcement pioneer, born in Niagara Falls in 1941, spent 10 years educating at a Catholic faculty in Buffalo and was a member of the Sisters of Mercy convent — the place she subtly dropped hints her passions could have lied elsewhere.
“She always wanted to play Clue. That should have been a clue,” one informed WGRZ in 2022.
Misko traded her behavior for a badge in 1970, beginning as a researcher for the power. Then, simply two years later, she set her sights on a promotion: particular agent.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who enforced Prohibition-era restrictions in opposition to ladies within the power, died in 1972, clearing the best way for Misko to use — and land the job on the age of 31.
That July, Misko and former Marine Susan Roley have been sworn in as the primary feminine FBI particular brokers in practically a half-century, becoming a member of 43 males on the FBI Academy close to Quantico, Virginia, in accordance with the Bureau.
“[Misko] and Roley quickly proved their mettle. The men began to affectionately refer to them as ‘The Nun’ and ‘The Marine,’” Uncover Niagra mentioned of the history-makers. Misko additionally later revealed that the ladies have been issued a handbag along with their weapons and credentials.
Misko’s profession was removed from simple — shortly after being sworn in, she was deployed to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, throughout a 71-day standoff between federal brokers and protesters with the American Indian Motion.
She was concerned in at the least one of many firefights. She took cowl in an armored personnel provider and handed ammunition to her fellow brokers.
Misko was later placed on assignments to pursue fugitives out of St. Louis, the primary of which was a navy deserter, who known as up the FBI ” incensed {that a} girl was being despatched out to get him,” she mentioned throughout an interview with the Bureau in 2012. “You know, that he wasn’t worthy of a guy. He had to have a woman go after him.”
Misko made historical past but once more within the late Seventies when she grew to become one of many first feminine supervisors at FBI headquarters in Washington and in 1994 when she retired, she grew to become the longest-tenured feminine agent in FBI historical past.
Regardless of her wild success, Misko sadly confronted loads of discrimination within the office.
“I never had anything nasty happen to me,” she as soon as informed the Buffalo Information. “But you’re always going to have a few pockets of resistance, men who will say, ‘I’m not going to work for a woman.’”
After handing over her badge, Misko sued the bureau for intercourse discrimination over claims she was handed over for promotion in favor of much less certified male colleagues — and he or she lambasted the FBI as an “old boy’s network.”
The case was settled for an undisclosed sum.
“Filing that lawsuit was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, because the great majority of my feelings toward the FBI, and the people I worked with, are good feelings,” she mentioned within the Buffalo Information interview. “For the most part, it was a great experience in a tremendous law enforcement agency.”
Her many awards embrace the American Police Corridor of Fame, the Silver Star for Bravery and the Lifetime Legislation Enforcement Achievement Award, in recognition of her “desire to improve the position of women in law enforcement and her excellence in public service,” in accordance with her obituary.
“I honestly didn’t see myself as a pioneer,” she mentioned within the FBI interview. “It was just a role that I was fortunate enough to become a part of and I just was just carrying out that role of special agent. So, I didn’t think of it in that regard at the time anyway.”
