Two members of USJ community honored with veterans awards

Yvonne Joy is a veteran of the US Air Force and an associate professor of Nursing who comes from a family of service members. Her father served in the US Marine Corps and the Air Force, retiring after 20 years of service, and her brother served in the Air Force, in addition to a number of uncles and cousins who served in nearly all the branches. Inspired by their service, she joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at Syracuse University as an undergraduate and was commissioned as a second lieutenant the day after commencement in May 1993.

She served on active duty from 1993-1999. Her first duty assignment was at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio where she served as a clinical nurse, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1995. Her next assignment was to Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and was promoted to captain in 1997. She separated from active duty in 1999. It was during this time that she became interested in teaching.

Since leaving active duty, Yvonne continued her nursing education, earning her master’s degree in nursing and becoming a family nurse practitioner. Her interest in teaching led her to pursue numerous adjunct teaching assignments and, in 2013, a full-time teaching position here at USJ. In 2015, she earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Connecticut.

She and her husband are the proud parents of three children: twin sons aged 26 and a daughter aged 24. Matthew is serving in the Air Force at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma as an air battle manager, Timothy is a physical therapist with Hartford Healthcare, and Elizabeth is studying special education at USJ and is an employee at the Gengras Center.

Yvonne was recognized with the Colonel B. Catherine Noble Award in 2016.

Colonel B. Catherine Noble received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from the University of Saint Joseph (then Saint Joseph College) in 1947.

Noble, a native of Hartford, started her career at Veteran’s Hospital in the Bronx, where she earned her certificate as a dietician. She then worked on the staff of McCook Memorial Hospital in Hartford, followed by Veterans Hospital in Rutland Heights, Massachusetts.

In 1951 Noble entered active duty with the Army, beginning a 28-year military commitment. She served as staff dietician at Percy Jones Army Hospital in Michigan, then, as Chief of the Clinical Dietetics Branch, was posted to facilities in Denver; Fort Carson, Colorado; and Frankfurt, Germany. Through the 1960s, Noble assumed executive assignments at the 10th Evac Hospital, Würzburg, Germany; Fitsimmons General Hospital, Denver; and US Army Hospital, Camp Zama, Japan. The 1970s returned Noble to the U.S., with back-to-back tours at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, first as Assistant Chief of Food Service, then as Chief of the Production and Service Branch. Noble’s final assignment was at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, where she served as the Chief of Food Service Division. At the time of her retirement in 1979, Noble was among the highest-ranking African-American female officers in Army history and the first African-American woman to hold the rank of Colonel in the Army Medical Specialist Corps.

Noble greatly valued education, taking a Master of Science in Institutional Administration at Michigan State University and a Doctor of Education at George Washington University. After she retired, Noble shared her enthusiasm for education by tutoring with the Muscogee Alliance for Literacy Advance, the Prison Ministry of Israel Memorial CME Church, and teaching at Columbus College, Columbus, Georgia. Noble gave tirelessly to her church and as a volunteer dietitian at Saint Francis Hospital, Hartford. She maintained professional memberships and contacts in the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, the American Dietitian Association, the Retired Army Medical Specialist Corps Association, and the American Hospital Association.

Noble’s achievements were celebrated by her beloved alma mater in 1975, when Saint Joseph awarded her the Distinguished Alumna Award. She later served the University as a member of the Board of Trustees and represented USJ at the inauguration of the LaGrange College president in 1997. Her extraordinary generosity continues through the Dr. B. Catherine Noble ’47, DAA ’75 Endowed Scholarship, which she funded to support students majoring in nutrition and health sciences.

Catherine Noble’s selfless commitment to service reflects our founding Mercy values and brings great credit upon herself, her community, and all who prospered from her care.

Rear Admiral Frances Shea Buckley received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Saint Joseph (then Saint Joseph College) in 1950.

With the outbreak of the Korean War, Buckley joined the Navy and was assigned to Portsmouth, Virginia as a nurse. After a three year tour of duty, she remained in the Naval Reserve while teaching nursing at Mercy Hospital, Springfield, Massachusetts. She next pursued further training at the University of Chicago, followed by a Master of Science in Nursing Management from DePaul University.

In 1960, Buckley returned to active duty and served in a variety of teaching, nursing, and counseling assignments in the United States and Rota, Spain. In 1968, Buckley joined the hospital staff aboard USS Repose, serving as the operating room supervisor. At that time, Repose was stationed off the coast of Vietnam and treated over 2,000 combat casualties.

Buckley’s subsequent assignments attest to the Navy’s confidence in her abilities: Assistant Director, then Director, Nursing Services, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland; Director, Nursing Service, Naval Regional Medical Center, San Diego; and finally, Director of the Navy Nurse Corps in 1979. In assuming this final assignment, Buckley was promoted to Rear Admiral. At that time, she was the only active duty female Rear Admiral and one of the highest-ranking women in Navy history.

After her retirement from the Navy in 1983, Buckley remained active and engaged in her profession and her community. She was a member of the Catholic Nurses Association, the National League of Nursing, and the American Legion; served as a consultant to the Federal Emergency Management Agency; as a member of the Secretary of the Navy’s Medical Research Committee; and as a Jurist on the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project Selection Committee. She also served on the board of directors for the Veterans Medical Research Foundation, The Retired Officers Association, and the San Diego Medical Federal Credit Union. She chaired the Veterans Administration Women’s Advisory Committee and served on the faculty of the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Nursing.

Buckley’s extraordinary achievements were recognized with a Distinguished Citizen Award by the city of Chicopee, Massachusetts; recognition as “One of America’s Most Important Women Leaders” by Ladies Home Journal; an honorary degree from Elms College; Distinguished Alumna Award in 1976 and a Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from her own University of Saint Joseph in 2010. Frances Shea Buckley lived a life of distinction, compassion, and service. Our University, our country, and our Mercy Community are richer for having known her.