By Ginger Dawson
NKyTribune reporter
Woodrow Wilson Phelps, Jr. Now THAT is a name. Wood’s dad, the first Woodrow Wilson Phelps, was born in 1924, a scant three months after the death of the former 28th president of the United States.
Wood’s Grandfather Phelps loved Woodrow Wilson. Even though he had not been in any of the armed forces during World War I, he thought enough of him to name his son in honor of Wilson upon his death. This must have been an inspiration, as this son would go on to parachute into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne on D-Day during World War II.
Officer Woodrow Wilson Phelps Jr. (Photo provided)
Seven years later, in 1951, Woodrow Wilson Phelps, Jr. showed up on the scene. Born in Cincinnati’s Bethesda Oak hospital, his family shortly thereafter moved to Los Angeles, California until Wood was eight years old. He and his mom split from Woodrow Wilson Sr. and headed back to Cincinnati.
The family (his mother having remarried) bounced around a bit and by the time Wood was in Junior High, they were in a pretty rough neighborhood with a school to match. At that time, Wood found out a distressing thing about himself. He was a mark. Kids picked on him, fought him and stole things from him. He hated these confrontations.
As all of us have found, at one point or another, there is nothing (with hormones raging!) more feral or mean than a 14-year-old bully with a chip on his/her shoulder.
I imagine, that as the son of a D-Day veteran, he was mortified to confront all of this and conclude that he was a “creampuff” — a wimp!
Wood still has lead in each hand from being stabbed with pencils during that time.
Wood at the age of 15. Still smiling in spite of everything. (Photo provided)
This experience was a real self-revelation. It stuck in his craw. He knew he would have to do something about it; to correct it. He could NOT be a sissy.
Now, another thing about Wood is that even though he was having these playground run-ins, he was (and still is!) a class clown. He was constantly getting into trouble with his antics and getting kicked out of class and generally just not taking anything too seriously. If he couldn’t throw a punch, he could at least make people laugh.
As you can imagine, by the time he was in high school, and he had not applied himself to anything other than goofing off, he had pretty much concluded that he didn’t have much of a future ahead of him. Girls and basketball were about it.
But, there was something else he was into. TV. During that time, there were shows like Dragnet and The F.B.I. featuring tough, smart lawmen and F.B.I. agents. Guys that were not wimps. Good role models. This stuck with him.
And, another good thing was the fact that his step-dad was a bartender at the Colony restaurant on Walnut St. in downtown Cincinnati. Some of his customers were F.B.I. agents. Wood was really impressed with this bunch. They were educated, carried guns and were sharp dressers. He got to know them, and one of them gave him a book.
Detective Phelps. Sharply dressed man. (Photo provided)
Masters of Deceit by J. Edgar Hoover was right in line with Wood’s interests. Hoover, as some of you may remember, was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 37 years.
By his senior year of high school Wood had zeroed in on police enforcement as a career choice. At a jobs fair his senior year of high school, the Cincinnati Police Department had a Sargent and a police cadet in attendance to answer questions and solicit candidates.
During that time, the CPD had a full-ride, co-op program in law enforcement followed by admission to the police academy. Wood could not believe this! It sounded too good to be true.
He went through the application process which included, among many things: testing, a background check and a physical. Out of four hundred applicants, Wood was one of thirteen selected. He was shocked.
In March of 1972, Wood graduated from the police academy and was assigned to District 3 in Cincinnati. He was a patrolman. And, he had unfinished business. This district did not have the danger and action that Wood was looking for. He still had to prove to himself that he was not a “creampuff.” He needed to prove to himself that he was a man.
So, after a couple of years, Wood applied for a change of district — a much more dangerous, high-risk district. Naturally, he was readily accepted.
Annie Samson Phelps. Future cop’s wife. Bet she didn’t see that coming. (Photo provided)
He went at it and tested himself and his ability to handle danger. He confesses to being afraid a lot of times. Wood conquered this fear and felt that he had pretty much achieved the level of courage that he wanted. He was definitely not a sissy.
But, in 1975, when Wood was 24-years-old, tragedy struck. A friend, and fellow officer, was killed on his beat. This rekindled Wood’s struggle with fear and added to it, the remorse of survivor’s guilt.
He seriously considered leaving the police force.
Wood persevered and overcame the trauma. He went back on the beat.
Wanting to move up, through a circumstance of changes in the police force administration, testing and job placement, Wood became a detective in 1981.
He had a great mentor as a partner for twelve years. Through this, he became an expert, tenacious crime scene investigator. Through his experiences, he came to believe that interrogations and confessions were most critical to having arrests. His success at drawing out confessions was one of the most rewarding parts of his job.
One can imagine, that with a career like this, there must be a lot of good stories. And, Wood, with his sense of humor, keen observation and wily sense of human nature was quite a raconteur. He was always spinning a tale. Friends and associates were continually mentioning to him that he should write a book.
Annie Samson Phelps and Woodrow Wilson Phelps Jr. True love. (Photo provided)
After a long, successful career, Wood retired from the Cincinnati Police Department in 1999.
During these final years of Wood’s career, a personal relationship that hadn’t been working for some time, finally came to a head. His marriage ended (for all intents and purposes) in 1995. This gave his final work years and early years of retirement a certain unpredictability, emotionally and financially.
For 15 years, he worked different jobs and lived in all manner of housing situations. In fact, by 2010, he was living in Blue Ash, a suburb of Cincinnati.
And occasionally, he would try to find a new relationship. He had just about given up.
Annie Samson was living in Lebanon, Indiana, about two and a half hours from Cincinnati. Prior to Indiana, Annie had led a very interesting life. Originally from Pleasantville, New York (about 30 miles north of NYC) she migrated west to San Francisco, California in 1965, and was one of the original Haight-Ashbury Hippies. She was there for 9 years. Life after the Summer of Love went on. Marriage, parenting, work, divorce.
She was nearing the end of her career — at that point, with a toxicology lab. And, after having been single for 20 years, her son was badgering her to get out and date. Ugh.
I am sure you have all heard of match.com. To appease her son, Annie signed up on this website and responded to a profile. There was something weird with the search algorithms that day, and the geographic search range was off by……well, A LOT.
Wood volunteers as a docent at the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum, when it is open. Here he is with some friends. (Photo by Ginger Dawson)
Somehow, this Woodrow Wilson Phelps, Jr. had showed up. She connected with him.
They seemed to hit it off and agreed to meet halfway — a park in Greensburg, Indiana.
It was love at first sight. Really. Four months later they married. You can’t make this stuff up.
They both believe that is was a higher power that brought them together. The Hippy and the Cop.
After living in Lebanon for about three years, Wood and Annie moved to Covington in 2014. They love Covington and really enjoy the people and friendships they have made.
In a life of so many personal accomplishments, I asked Wood what he was most proud of. He immediately responded that he was most proud to be Annie’s husband. He stated, “It’s easy because Annie is so wonderful!”
Wood is also making good on that suggestion of friends, co-workers and family. He is writing a book. His memoirs, which include short stories and vignettes of his years in law enforcement will be ready to publish around the holiday season of this year. As of this date, no title has been selected.
Wood, who is a very entertaining conversationalist, discovered that the process of writing the book required him to take an objective, introspective look at his life. I am certain that the book will be as thought-provoking as it will be entertaining.
Rounding out our conversation, I asked him for a good piece of advice.
“Shoot first; ask questions later!”
He was kidding!
Ginger Dawson writes about people — the neighbors you need to know and people you need to meet and understand. If you have ideas for subjects please share them with Ginger at ginger@fuse.net.
