Pioneering Female Colorado National Guard Member Honored

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Weld County has honored one of the first women to serve in Colorado's Army National Guard.

The Greeley Tribune reports that the Weld County Veterans Memorial Committee recognized 86-year-old Katherine Ravithis during its Armed Forces Day in May.

Ravithis joined the Colorado Army National Guard in 1972. She is the first woman known to enlist in non-medical and non-clerical service.

She says she couldn't attend her first training camp because there were no women's facilities, but she always felt like an equal.

Ravithis had a 20-year military career that also included time as a communicator in the Army, a member of the Marine Corps Reserves and a member of the California National Guard.

She now lives in Greeley and has traveled across the nation to attend Women's Army Corps Veterans' Association Conventions.

A Guard spokesman, Maj. Darin Overstreet, says at least two women — Lts. Joan Wysoski and Joan Sullivan — served before Ravithis as nurses.

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