PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribe and community across North Carolina mourned the passing of Brenda Oxendine Price who died Sept. 10. She was 65.
“Oxendine is celebrated as the first woman sworn into the North Carolina State Highway Patrol,” according to a prepared statement release Sunday by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. “At the age of 21, Brenda became the first woman to successfully complete the 20-weeks of basic training in Raleigh required to join the NC Highway Patrol. She was sworn into the NC State Highway Patrol on March 29, 1980.”
According to her biographical information, Price attended Richmond Technical Institute majoring in criminal justice. Before she finished, however, went into basic training, making her way through the Highway Patrol program.
“Price was a proud member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina,” according to Sunday’s statement. “Her funeral took place in the Lumbee Tribal Territory in Scotland County.”