Meet Ardee Langford, the 'Mother of the Petersburg Police'

PETERSBURG, Va. -- Ardee Langford has worked for Petersburg Police for more than 40 years and she shows no signs of stopping.

"I enjoy what I do and dealing with the people I deal with," Langford said about her time at work as an administrative assistant to 15 police chiefs since 1977.

"She's always a joy to see here, when you walk in and see that smile, coming from Mrs. Langford," Chief Travis Christian said.

A sentiment echoed by some of Chief Christian's predecessors.

"It's certainly good for the police department," former chief Bill Rohde said about Ardee's institution knowledge. "She is just one great person."

"Anytime you need to ask anything about the police department, no matter how far back, she has a little book, she can look in that little book and tell you they were employed from such and such a date to such and such a date," former chief Steve Eilert added.

"Those books go back to 1973," Ardee Langford explained. "People come and go. I record it, their name, of course, the date they start and the position and so forth, then when they leave, the date they resign and whatever."

Over the years, Ardee has learned to speak her mind.

"If I don't think something is right, I'm going to say something," she said.

"It's up to you whether you want to take her advice," Chief Christian said. "But she's going to give it to you honestly."

It was on the job that Ardee met her future husband, Detective Calvin Langford.

"She smelled so good, my goodness she smelled so good," the retired detective recalled.

Calvin and Ardee married in 1983.

"Anything you need in this department, all you got to do is ask her," Calvin said about his wife. "If they don't know, ask Ardee, that's where the buck stops."

"Mrs. Langford is the Mother of the Agency, so everyone seeks her out," Chief Christian added.

While Ardee has no plan to retire, her husband predicts when that day comes, it won't be long before Petersburg Police call and ask her to return.