To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Texas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Texas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 7/14/21 • Approved: 7/14/21 • Last Updated: 8/21/21 • R436910-G0-S3
COLONEL
(1905 - 1966)
Joseph Sidney Joe Fletcher, Texas Ranger and assistant director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, was born in Marysville, Cook County, Texas on July 27, 1905. He attended Maryville public schools and, after graduation, joined the Navy. After serving four years, 1922 to 1926, and being honorably discharged, he worked in California, but eventually returned to Texas. While living in Fort Worth, he was hired by the Texas Highway Department on October 15, 1931, to be a patrolman for the Texas Highway Motor Patrol. After finishing his training, Fletcher served as a patrolman in Alpine, Odessa, Pecos and Big Spring. On October 15, 1935, after the Texas Department of Public Safety was created, he was transferred to Austin to work in the Bureau of Identification and Records. Fletcher worked as a finger print and handwriting expert before being named chief of the division in 1938. During this time he was also commissioned as a Texas Ranger. On January 17, 1945, Homer Garrison, executive director of the department, named Fletcher acting assistant director. Later that same year, Garrison added to his duties by naming him acting chief of the Drivers License Division. After serving in this temporary capacity for nearly a year, Fletcher was promoted to Assistant Director and Lieutenant Colonel on September 16, 1945. As Assistant Director, he was in charge of the training schools, the operations of the communications bureau, which included the development of a state-wide network, and managing the day-to-day operations of the entire department. With a law enforcement career that spanned over 30 years, Fletcher retired on April 18, 1962, and returned to Fort Worth, where he had recently been elected Secretary-General Manager of the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association. Throughout his career, Fletcher was a member of several civic and peace officers? associations, was president of the Texas Division of the International Association of Identification Experts and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Texas Employees Retirement System. After suffering from a lengthy illness, Fletcher died on December 4, 1966. Because of his years of service to the State of Texas, Governor John Connally signed a proclamation allowing him and his wife, the former Billie Jones, to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.
Contributed on 7/14/21 by deanakh1
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 436910