Though the smell of fresh paint lingers in the air, Butler County's gleaming new prison kitchen brings back decades-old memories to Pearl Wamboldt.

"It's been a long time since I've been in jail," Wamboldt said June 3 as she toured the new Butler County Prison on South Washington Street, set to open July 1.

Wamboldt, 90, of Slippery Rock served as the matron for her father, Sheriff Robert Thompson, from 1946 to 1950.

Typically the prison matron was the sheriff's wife, but because her mother passed away shortly before Thompson was elected, the job fell to her.

At that time, the sheriff and his family lived in a house at the jail, which occupied the current site of the Butler County Government Center. The house was very large, Wamboldt said, with five bedrooms.

Matrons were in charge of cooking and serving the female prisoners as well as searching them. Wamboldt had little help in her meager kitchen other than a female prisoner to help occasionally with dishes and a turnkey, or male prison guard, to serve the men.

Today, one county employee runs the kitchen with 17 approved prisoners to help, Deputy Warden Art Marx said.

Wamboldt described her 1940s prison kitchen as about a quarter the size of the new kitchen and with a large gas stove with big pots. She had a refrigerator, but certainly not a walk-in like the prison has now. There were no dishwashers, mixers, steamers or electric assembly lines.

But Wamboldt made it work.

She tried to "balance their diet," she said. "They always ate it all," though she didn't know what the prisoners' favorite meal was.

Each morning in those days, the 40 to 50 prisoners ate cold or hot cereal followed by a larger meal of stew or soup with bread at noon. Prisoners had a lighter meal like sandwiches in the evening.

"They didn't get a lot of desserts," Wamboldt said, noting she always served a fruit or vegetable.

Her duties did not include any baking, as the prison contracted with local suppliers like Friedman's or J.M. Beatty's Grocery for bread and with Andre's Coffee and Tea for beverages.

The prison "gave everyone in the county some business," she said.

Though she admits that the matron job limited her social time, she could always find another lady to cover for her if she wanted to get out for a while. Often her substitute was the wife of Deputy Warden Al McCandless.

As part of her tour, Marx showed Wamboldt the women's pod and pointed out the padded cell.

"We had a padded cell," Wamboldt said. "One elderly lady that would come in — she'd be really sauced. We'd have to put her in the padded cell. She'd punch at you."

The pod's capacity of 60 was surprising to Wamboldt, whose prison typically only had three or four female inmates.

The new prison will hold a total of 512 men and women prisoners combined, but the one in Wamboldt's day held 50 to 60.

Wamboldt said that a benefit to the small capacity was that each Sunday nigh the inmates would give her money so that she could buy them ice cream at the drugstore on Main Street.

"It's was the Sunday ritual," she said.

Wamboldt has more than one connection to the history of the Butler County Prison. Not only was her father sheriff, but her grand-nephew Pat Stone is now a contractor for the new prison. Stone's grandfather also served as warden.

Wamboldt didn't marry until after her tenure as matron and held many jobs later in life in addition to having five children.

Today she lives with her daughter, Karen Shipton and family.

"She still loves to cook," Shipton said.

Wamboldt often cooks for her grandsons Jesse and Jacob. "I'm still trying to balance the diet," she said.