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“As we celebrate this
Founders’ Day, we take time to recognize these women who
serve our country and focus on the many contributions made
that have been accomplished to make serving in the military
honorable, prestigious and commendable,” wrote Toledo Club
President Denise Black-Poon.
The afternoon, organized
by event chairmen, Delores Bates and Clara Brank, consisted
of the acknowledgement for the founders – Emma Odessa Young,
Ollie Chinn Porter, Effie Diton, Bertha Perry Rhodes,
Josephine Keene, Adelaide Fleming and Pearl Flippen – who
came together in 1935 to form the Club.
After the mid-day
luncheon, guests were treated to the keynote address by
Major (RET) William C. Wedley of the U.S. Army. Wedley, now
an associate director of undergraduate admission at The
University of Toledo, spoke of the many accomplishments over
the years of African-American women in the military.
Then, the club members
recognized eight local women who have served or are serving
in various capacities in the nation’s military. The honorees
were: SPC Lanaya McDonald, SPC Brightis Crump, Lt. Colonel
Azure Cardwell Utley, SPC Stephanie Morris, TSgt Starlet
Braxton, PFC Patrice Edwards, Corporal Clenastine Hamilton
and SPC/E4 Brittany Asia Pullie.
McDonald, a licensed
counselor and chemical dependency counselor, has been a
member of the U.S. Army Reserves for 13 years and is
currently a human resources sergeant. She will continue her
service and plans to enter the Army Medical Corps and to
become an officer later this year.
Crump, a teacher at
Woodward High School, joined the Army National
Guard-Military Police eight years ago and was medically
discharged in 2014 due to a training injury.
Dr. Utley, DDS, currently
stationed at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, is a staff
prostodontist and an adjunct mentor to multiple dental
residency programs within the Army dental organization. She
received her DDS from the University of Detroit-Mercy and an
Advanced Education if Prostodontics Certificate from the
U.S. Army Dental Activity.
Morris, a Libbey High
School graduate, is currently in the Army and has undergone
more than 20 surgeries for numerous injuries suffered in the
line of duty in Bagram, Afghanistan with the 32nd
Transportation Company. She is presently at Walter Reed
Hospital receiving treatment.
Braxton, a Bowsher High
School graduate, is a Knowledge Operations Manager at the
180th Fighter Wing, Air National Guard Base in
Swanton, OH. She is also a special education teacher with
Toledo Public Schools.
Edwards has served in the
U.S. Army since September 2013 and is currently stationed at
Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX as an assistant chaplain. She plans
to remain in the Army for 20 years and eventually become an
officer.
Hamilton, born in 1931,
joined the Army in 1951 and ended up serving in a hospital
unit during the Korean War. Inspired to become a nurse from
that experience, she enrolled at Tennessee A & I State
University for pre-nursing training and Meharry Medical
College for a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing. She
returned to Toledo to work as a registered nurse and retired
from Toledo Hospital after a 20-year stint.
Pullie joined the Ohio
Army National Guard five years ago and serves as her unit’s
Public Affairs Representative – the journalist in charge of
media relations.
The NANBPWC, Inc Toledo
Club focuses on leadership, entrepreneurship, technology and
service (LETS) as well as health, education, employment and
economic development (HEED).
In addition to co-chairmen
Bates and Brank, the other Founders’ Day committee members
included: Black-Poon, First Vice President Wanda Galloway,
Iris Page, Donna Todd, Barbara Tucker and Lillie Watkins.
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