Marion Qualls made a lot of friends standing in the middle of the street, directing traffic.
That was one of two jobs a black man could get with the Denver Police Department in the 1950s.
But “he didn’t suffer,” said a friend, retired police Officer Casey Simpson. “Everybody loved Marion. The restaurants nearby would bring him food. He knew everyone.”
Qualls, who died Feb. 3 at 88, “was a hardworking, gentle, friendly kind of guy,” Simpson said.
Eight hours a day, through all kinds of weather, Qualls directed traffic at 16th and Stout streets, in the heart of Denver.
“He was a fixture there,” Simpson said.
Simpson said until the Police Department was fully integrated in 1968, blacks couldn’t be in police cars. Even after that, blacks were always paired in a car because “some white guys didn’t want to be in a car with a black,” he said.
Qualls rarely talked of discrimination, said his daughter, Schyleen Qualls Brown of San Francisco.
“Black people in those days couldn’t buy in Crestmoor Downs,” she said, and were stopped by police if they even drove through the area.
“They were also prevented from getting home loans from banks if they wanted to live in a certain area,” Brown said.
When Qualls joined the Police Department, blacks were allowed only to direct traffic or walk a beat.
Lester Smith, a retired cop, said watching Qualls inspired him to be a cop.
“We came downtown, and I saw him in the middle of the street in his uniform, and he just looked regal,” recalled Smith, who retired as a detective sergeant.
Always a community activist, Qualls was a 40-year member of the Owl Club, which, among other things, sponsors an annual debutante ball. He spearheaded a drive to purchase the organization’s first clubhouse.
He was “a committed fundraiser,” said his daughter, adding that he led a drive to build the Glenarm YMCA .
Gayle Hamlett, a cousin of Qualls’, said “he was the godfather of our family. He was the person relatives went to for guidance, advice and support. And sometimes he’d tell you the things you didn’t want to hear.”
Marion Hartsfield Qualls was born in Swiftown, Miss., on Jan. 11, 1920, and moved with his family to Denver in the 1930s. He graduated from Manual High School, where he was an honor student and learned to love golf.
After high school he worked at the Denver Rio Grande Railroad and then joined the Army, earning the Bronze Star.
He met his future wife, Alfreda Ingram, on a train. They married June 15, 1947, and later divorced.
Qualls was one of the first blacks to join the Denver department and one of Denver’s first black police detectives.
When he retired after 26 years on the force, he worked with security at United Airlines.
In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his son, Douglass Qualls of Austin, Texas; his adopted daughter, Maria Tolbert of Denver; and his sister, Corinne Jackson of Denver.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
