Winifred Love – Captain, United States Navy

From a contemporary press report

Winifred Love of Newport, Rhode Island, on Wednesday, December 22, 1999. Born in Moorefield, West Virginia on August 14, 1914.

Her parents, Dr. Robert and Mrs. Elizabeth Duncan Love came to this country from Scotland, arriving in West Virginia by stagecoach. Winnie graduated with an A.B. degree from Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Virginia in 1935. After two years of graduate study at Johns Hopkins University, she returned to the staff at Mary Baldwin College as an assistant to the President for Alumnae Affairs.

Winnie Love entered the Navy in August 1942, one of the first women in Virginia to join the newly formed WAVES. After officer candidate school she was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, DC and in two years was ordered (and promoted) to the Naval Air Station in Honolulu, Hawaii, the officer-in-charge of the first group of WAVES to serve outside the United States mainland. She held this post until the end of the war when she became a permanent member of the peacetime Navy, reporting to active duty back in Washington.

In 1967, Captain Love, who was among the first group of Navy women officers selected to the permanent rank of Captain, reported to her last command as director of training publications for the operating Fleet. In 1973 she retired after 30 years of distinguished service to her country. Captain Love has awards and decorations that include the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.

After retiring from the Navy, Captain Love was active in many volunteer activities. She spent the last years of her life in Newport, Rhode Island.

Captain Love is survived by her niece, Nancy Elizabeth Love of Morgantown, West Virginia. A Graveside funeral service with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA at 11 a.m. on January 4, 2000. A memorial will be held at Trinity Church, Queen Anne Square, Newport, RI on January 15, 2000 at 11 a.m.


LOVE, WINIFRED

  • CAPT   US NAVY
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 08/14/1914
  • DATE OF DEATH: 12/22/1999
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/04/2000
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 68  SITE 2877
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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