Alene Bertha Duerk

Alene Bertha Duerk was born on March 29, 1920, in Defiance, Ohio, to Albert and Emma Duerk. Her father, who had health problems related to his service in World War I, became ill enough when Alene was a young girl that nurses came to their house frequently. "I believe those nurses were my first introduction to nursing", Alene said in an interview for "Registered Nurse to Rear Admiral: A First for Navy Women", a 2003 book about her written by Estelle McDaniel.

Her father died when she was 4, leaving her mother to raise her and her younger sister, Evelyn. After graduating from Holgate High School in 1938, Alene entered the Toledo Hospital School of Nursing in Ohio. She graduated in 1941, becoming a registered nurse at the hospital and then the staff nurse at a Toledo department store.

In March of 1943 Alene entered the Navy Nurse Corps at the suggestion of recruiters with the Red Cross. Her first assignment was as a ward nurse at the naval hospital in Portsmouth, Va. In January 1944, she transferred, in a similar capacity, to the Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland.

In March of 1945, Alene was assigned to the Benevolence, a hospital ship that traveled to the Marshall Islands in preparation for an Allied assault on Japan. It was sailing toward Tokyo when atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war. Alene remained aboard the Benevolence off the Japanese coast for several more months caring for and then repatriating wounded U.S. prisoners of war liberated from Japan. "That was probably the most exciting experience of my whole career", she said in an interview for the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project.

Alene returned to civilian life briefly, receiving a bachelor's degree in advanced nursing from what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland before joining the Naval Reserve. She was called up to active duty in June of 1951 with the onset of the Korean War, working as a nurse and instructor at Portsmouth until 1956. From there Alene served in numerous hospitals in increasing positions of responsibility. She went on to develop education programs in Philadelphia, served as a Navy recruiter in Chicago and held top nursing positions at hospitals in the Philippines, Japan and San Diego. She worked at the Pentagon, helping recruit military nurses for Vietnam, before being named Director of the Navy Nurse Corps in May of 1970.

Her selection to the rank of rear admiral was approved by President Richard Nixon on April 26, 1972. The first woman to be selected for flag rank, she was advanced on June 1, 1972. With her promotion, Admiral Duerk became the de facto media spokeswoman for women in the Navy.

"Being the first of anything has its responsibilities", she told the New York Post in 1972. "I'm more than an officer. I'm a symbol, for women in the Navy and the military. Women thinking of careers like mine can know that ... the ultimate is possible."

Rear Admiral Alene Duerk was awarded the Naval Reserve Medal, American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with bronze star; World War II Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal, Asia Clasp; and the National Defense Service Medal with bronze star.

Alene retired in 1975, and joined the board of the Visiting Nurse Association in the early 1990s, which became the Visiting Nurse Foundation in 1997. She served on the board for almost 25 years, and the foundation has provided $3.5 million in grants to organizations in that time. In 2006, the board helped establish the Admiral Alene Duerk Endowed Scholarship Fund at UCF, which to date has funded scholarships to 69 students.

Alene had a great many friends from her long Navy career and involvement in nursing organizations as well as a number of close friends in the Lake Mary area with whom she enjoyed spending time. Alene was also an active member of the Holy Cross Church in Lake Mary, Florida.

Alene had a great sense of humor, a sharp mind, and was a very generous and caring person. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

She is survived by her brother-in-law Dr. Donald Granzow and nephews John (Gwen) Granzow, Steve (Linda) Granzow, and Tom (Jennifer Granzow) and her niece Kathy (William) Kruger.