Paying Homage to Fallen Officers

Upcoming golf tournaments raise money for the 10-33 Benevolent Fund.

When Roger B. Wilson was growing up in Columbia, his family name was already locally famous and respected, partly for a tragic reason. His grandfather, Boone County Sheriff Roger Isaac Wilson, was a popular Depression-era officeholder cut down in the line of duty by a bullet.   

On June 14, 1933, Sheriff Wilson and Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Ben Booth put up a roadblock near today’s intersection of Columbia’s Business Loop 70 and Rangeline. They were watching for two men fleeing a bank robbery in Mexico, Missouri. As the officers approached a 1932 Ford V-8 Coupe, shots rang out, and Sheriff Wilson, 43, fell dead. Sergeant Booth, 35, was shot and died later, the first Missouri highway patrolman to die in the line of duty.  

The sheriff’s widow, Cora, was left with five children, four of them still at home. One of Cora’s sons, Roger Woodrow Wilson, often told his son, Roger Byron Wilson, about the family’s hardships after the sheriff’s death.   

“It was a poor existence,” Roger B. Wilson says, “and she raised those kids by herself. I am sure the community helped some, but there was no formal assistance from the state or the county. So, Cora moved the family to a farmhouse out of town, and she came downtown at 3 a.m. every day to bake pies at a café on Broadway.”  

Public service was in the family tradition — Roger Woodrow Wilson served for three decades as Boone County collector, and Roger B. Wilson succeeded his father in office when he died. Later Roger B. was elected to the Missouri Senate and as lieutenant governor. He closed his career in public service as governor for three months, ascending to the state’s highest office in October 2000 after the untimely death of Gov. Mel Carnahan.  

It provides immediate financial assistance to the families of public servants who die in line of duty. 

“We realized there were a whole lot of people in the same situation my grandmother was in, and I thought, if we can make enough to help with the funeral and other immediate expenses, it can do something to ease a bit of anxiety,” Roger B. Wilson recalls.   

Other local charities serve law enforcement in specific regions, but the 10-33 Benevolent Fund is the only statewide organization helping families of the fallen. Over twenty-five years, the 10-33 Benevolent Fund has accumulated about $1 million in donations and has paid out some $500,000. Most checks to recipients are for $5,000.  

And over time, the types of public servants covered have expanded beyond law enforcement to include emergency medical technicians, firefighters, prison guards, highway workers, and utility linemen. Wilson added, “These are the folks working every day in tough jobs, serving to keep everyone safe.”   

One key to the 10-33 Benevolent Fund’s effectiveness is a small and nimble board of directors, which means no red tape and no administrative overhead beyond tournament costs.   

“We have cut a check for delivery within six hours of learning of a death, though it usually takes a bit more time, and we coordinate with the appropriate agency for details and efficient delivery,” Roger B. says. “It at least gets some money into the hands of a stricken family that is suddenly faced with unexpected expenses.”  

The tournaments are actually a series of four golf events spread from June through September:  

The opening tournament is scheduled for June 25 at Tanglewood Golf Course in Fulton, hosted by The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, the statewide organization of 47 electric co-ops. (Contact Linda Welch, 573-659-3418.)  

The Department of Corrections benefit tournament is on August 15, also at Tanglewood in Fulton. (Contact Lenny Lenger, 573-864-1264.)  

The third tournament, on September 5 at Columbia Country Club, is the gathering of hundreds of friends Wilson accumulated through his decades in public service. This event is focused on law enforcement. (Contact Cheryl Grazier, 573-353-1315.)   

The closing tournament of the series is for the Missouri Department of Transportation, on September 8, also at Columbia Country Club. (Contact Don Hillis, 573-821-3314.)  

For more information about the 10-33 Benevolent Fund and its work, visit missouri10-33benevolentfund.ngo  

10-33 Benevolent Fund 
3708 Lansing Avenue  
Columbia, MO 65201 
[email protected] 
573-875-2000 

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Founded:

2000 

Purpose: 

The 10-33 Benevolent Fund is dedicated to providing immediate financial support for the families of fallen Missouri public safety representatives whose deaths occur in the line of duty. 

Board of Directors:

• Roger B. Wilson, Founder 

• Rick Wilson, President 

• Mike Cox, Director 

• Cheryl Grazier, Director 

• Don Hillis, Director 

• Lenny Lenger, Director 

• Brent Stewart, Director 

Facts: 

• The Missouri 10-33 Benevolent Fund, the only such organization in the state of Missouri, reaches all 114 counties and the City of St. Louis. It serves families of public service officers from multiple branches of government, including state and local law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical, transportation, corrections, and utilities sectors that work to provide protection to all citizens of the state of Missouri.  

• The Missouri 10-33 Benevolent Fund has provided financial assistance to families whose loved ones represented the Missouri Sheriff Officers, Missouri Police Officers, Missouri State Highway Patrol Officers, Missouri Firefighters, Missouri Department of Transportation employees, Missouri Department of Corrections employees, and representatives of Missou