NMCP Nurse’s Make Quilt Honoring Navy Nurse Pioneer’s 98th Birthday

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Kris Lindstrom | 180327-N-GN619-001 Portsmouth, Va. (March 27, 2018) – Nurses from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) present a quilt made in honor of retired Rear Adm. Alene Duerk’s birthday, who turns 98 on March 29. Duerk, former director of the Navy Nurse Corps, was a highly renowned figure in the Nurse Corps and was the first female officer to attain the rank of rear admiral in the Navy. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kris R. Lindstrom)  

PORTSMOUTH, VA, UNITED STATES

03.29.2018

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kris Lindstrom 

Naval Medical Center - Portsmouth

Members of the Navy’s Nurse Corps assigned to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) made a quilt for retired Rear Adm. Alene Duerk’s 98th birthday, which is on March 29.
Duerk’s legacy among the Nurse Corps and women in the Navy speaks volumes considering she is the first woman to advance to a flag officer rank.
“As a pioneer and maverick for women in uniform, Rear Adm. Duerk set the precedence for nurses to have a very important seat at the executive level,” said Capt. Dixie Aune, director of Nursing Services at NMCP. “Her legacy and sage counsel has guided generations of Navy Nurses, past and present.”
Duerk began her career on Jan. 23, 1943, where she was appointed as an ensign in the Nurse Corps of the U.S. Naval Reserve. Shortly after her commissioning, she was stationed at NMCP as a ward nurse. After a long career serving at many different naval hospitals in the United States and abroad, she hit milestones that would forever change the dynamic of women in uniform. In 1970, she became the Director of the Navy Nurse Corps and in 1972, she became the first woman to advance to rear admiral. She retired in 1975.
The quilt was made from various donated items that included uniforms, the Nurse Corps insignia and the two silver stars that a rear admiral (upper half) wears.
“The patchwork was compiled from the cloth of personally gifted uniform items of NMCP Navy Nurses who have served in harm’s way,” Aune said. “It represents the strength and warmth of Navy Nurses at NMCP and worldwide, who have the watch.”
Lt. Cmdr. Autumn Riddell, a clinical nurse specialist in NMCP’s Emergency Medicine Department, took the project under her wing along with her mother, Gail Gleason, who is also a nurse with an added skillset of quilting. The quilt took about four days to make.
“We received donated khakis and NWU’s (Navy Working Uniform) and used that material to create the quilt,” Riddell said. “The quilt was designed to have two stars made out of the different fabrics, which was her rank at retirement.”
The quilt was presented at NMCP to the other Nurses on March 27 and then sent to Duerk for her birthday on March 29. She currently resides in Lake Mary, Florida.

• Date Taken: 03.29.2018
• Date Posted: 03.29.2018 10:48
• Story ID: 271072
• Location: PORTSMOUTH, VA, US