Alene Duerk

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Alene B. Duerk
United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service1943–1946
1951–1975
Rank Rear Admiral
Commands heldDirector, Nurse Corps
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsLegion of Merit
Distinguished Alumni Award
Other workDirector of United Services Life Insurance Company
Director of the Visiting Nurses Association and Foundation for Central Florida

Alene Bertha Duerk (March 29, 1920 – July 21, 2018) became the first female admiral in the U.S. Navy in 1972.

U.S. Navy Nurse Corps from 1970 to 1975. She is a 1974 recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award of Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing
.

Early life and education

Duerk was born in Defiance, Ohio, on March 29, 1920, to Albert and Emma Duerk.[3] She had nursing training at Toledo Hospital School of Nursing, from which she received her diploma in 1941.[4]

Career

On January 23, 1943, she was appointed as an

Great Lakes, Illinois, Duerk continued duty there until June of that year, when she was released from active naval service.[4]

She attended the

Ordered to return to active naval service, she reported in June 1951, as a ward nurse at the Naval Hospital,

During the period May 1963 to June 1965 she was the Senior Nurse Corps Officer at the Naval Station Dispensary,

Navy Nurse Corps, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department.[4]

Advancing progressively in rank, she attained that of captain on July 1, 1967. She became the first female admiral in the Navy in 1972.[1][2]

Duerk retired in 1975. She died in Central Florida on July 21, 2018, at the age of 98.[5]

Awards and decorations

Duerk received the following honorary degrees:

  • Doctor of Human Relations from
    Bowling Green University
    , 1973
  • Doctor of Humanities from
    Arlington, Virginia
    , 1974
  • Doctor of Science from
    Iowa Wesleyan College
    , 1975
  • Doctor of Science from
    Medical College of Ohio, 1976.[3]

Tributes

In 2013 the University of Central Florida College of Nursing unveiled a bronze statue of Duerk, and it was put on display there.[6] That university also offers the Rear Admiral Alene Duerk VNA Endowed Nursing Scholarship.[7]

Personal life and retirement

Having heard of her promotion to rear admiral on the radio in her car, a toll booth operator was the first person Duerk spoke to about it. But by the time she had gotten home, family was already calling and the press was waiting for her.[5] From that time on, she felt that she was not only an admiral, she was a spokeswoman for all the women in the Navy. In that role, she frequently made appearances and statements in support of her Navy women, fighting for increases in pay, better conditions and recruiting nurses.[5] Shortly after her promotion, she appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth[8]

After retirement, she joined the board of the Visiting Nurse Association in the early 1990s, which later became the Visiting Nurse Foundation in 1997, serving on the board for nearly 25 years. The board established the Admiral Alene Duerk Endowed Scholarship Fund at University of Central Florida in her honor.[5]

Although she was very close to her family, Duerk never married or had children of her own.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ a b c Defiance County Veterans Directory[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ a b c d e f Official U S Navy Biography, Navy Office of Information, Biographies Branch (OI-O111), June 7, 1972
  5. ^ a b c d e "Rear Adm. Alene Duerk, Navy's first woman to achieve flag rank, dies at 98". Orlando Sentinel. July 25, 2018.
  6. ^ "Navy Nurse Trailblazer Honored With Statue". UCF News – University of Central Florida Articles – Orlando, FL News. February 12, 2013.
  7. ^ "Undergraduate Scholarships". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  8. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: First Female US Navy Admiral Alene Duerk on "To Tell the Truth" ca. 1972. YouTube.

Further reading

External links

Military offices
Preceded by Director, Navy Nurse Corps
1970–1975
Succeeded by