Katherine Keating

Katherine Keating was born in Pueblo, Colorado, on February 8, 1922, to Lawrence and Cecil Keating.[1] She had one brother and one sister.[1] In 1940 she graduated from Central High School and in 1942, from Pueblo Junior College.[1] She enrolled at the University of Colorado but interrupted her studies to enlist in the WAVES in 1942.[2] After World War II ended, she returned to the university and earned a B.S. in pharmacy studies in 1948.[2][3]

Upon enlisting in the WAVES in 1942, Keating trained as a radio operator and was posted to Hawaii, where she monitored radio signals and typed out code translations.[2] She sometimes worked out of an underground station located in a pineapple field.[1]

Back in Colorado after the war, she served in the United States Naval Reserve.[3] In 1948 she re-enlisted in the Navy to pursue a military career,[1] and in 1950 became the first woman commissioned to the Navy Medical Service Corps.[4]

USS Haven anchored in Inchon Harbor, 1954

During the Korean War, Keating served on the USS Haven, a hospital ship which evacuated wounded American soldiers from Korea to US military hospitals in Japan.[2] In addition to her pharmacist duties, Keating performed guard duty, cryptography, and officer training.[4] In 1953, she served as an official "disinterested witness" for a prisoner of war exchange that took place aboard the ship under the auspices of the United Nations.[4] In 1954, the ship evacuated wounded French Foreign Legion paratroopers after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.[3]

During the Vietnam War, Keating was assigned to U.S. naval hospitals in Japan.[3]

Keating went on to serve as Chief of Pharmacy Service for six naval hospitals.[3] She also lectured at the Pharmacy Technician School in San Diego, California.[3]

She achieved several milestones during her tenure in the Navy Medical Service Corps, including being the first woman pharmacist in the US Navy,[2] the first woman in the US Navy to advance in rank from seaman to captain, and the first woman pharmacist to attain the rank of captain.[3] She was also "the first woman in the Medical Service Corps to go to sea, and the first woman officer to replace a male officer at sea".[3] She retired from active service in 1972.[2]

After leaving the Navy, Keating settled in Beulah, Colorado, where she ran a bed and breakfast and horse ranch called the KK Ranch and Carriage Museum.[1][5] Her horse-drawn carriages were popular at parades, weddings, and funerals.[1][6] A display of her carriages and gear is featured at the Pueblo Heritage Museum.[7]

Keating also worked for recognition of female veterans. In the 1990s,[2] she was the biggest fund-raiser for the Colorado section of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial established at Arlington National Cemetery.[3]

Keating's military honors include the Meritorious Service Medal and the U.S. Surgeon General's Certificate of Merit as a pharmacist.[1]

The City Council of Pueblo declared March 24, 2006 as "Kay Keating Day".[3] Keating was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2008.[3][2] Also in 2008, she was the honorary parade marshal for the Colorado State Fair.[1]

Keating never married. At one point, while she was on active duty, she raised her sister's two children through their teenage years.[1]

She died on June 6, 2009, in Pueblo.[1] Her oral history on her experiences in three wars is part of the Katherine Keating Collection at the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress.[8]

• Stark, Alan; Hanson, Carl; Ilse, Travis, eds. (1996). Absolutely Every (Almost) Bed and Breakfast in Colorado (4th ed.). Travis Ilse Publishers. ISBN 1882092198.
• Witt, Linda; Bellafaire, Judith; Granrud, Britta (2005). A Defense Weapon Known To Be Of Value: Servicewomen of the Korean War Era. UPNE. ISBN 1584654724.