FORMER HOLGATE RESIDENT AND DEFIANCE NATIVE TO HAVE HIGHWAY NAMED FOR HER

She made history in the U.S. Navy, and now the state of Ohio is honoring a former Holgate resident, and native of Defiance.On March 4th, Governor DeWine is expected to sign a bill that will designate Route 108 through Henry County as Alene Duerk Memorial Highway.State Representative Jim Hoops was sponsor of House Bill 225, which designates the highway.Alene Duerk joined the Navy Nursing Corp in 1943, after graduating from the Toledo Hospital School of Nursing.She was stationed aboard a hospital ship sailing in the Pacific during World War 2.And when the war ended, the nurse’s role was to attend to prisoners of war from the Japanese prison camps.Duerk was called-back to active duty during the Korean War.And later she would earn the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy- the first female to be so honored.Alene Duerk passed away at the age of 98 in 2018.


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