Category Women Veterans
YES, TEACHER, GRANDMA REALLY WAS A SOLDIER, SPY, GUERILLA, AND SILVER STAR RECIPIENT
As the story goes, when Corporal Magdalena “Maggie” Leones’ granddaughter wrote a report about her grandma for a school assignment, the teacher simply didn’t believe it. Believe what? Or, was the girl simply a grandchild with an overactive imagination? Prove it, the teacher told her. Prove it, Maggie’s granddaughter did. She brought the Silver Star […]
PATRICIA JACKSON KELLEY: MAKING HISTORY EVERY DAY FOR DECADES
At a recent veterans event in Los Angeles, a woman approached Patricia Jackson Kelley and offered words of appreciation. “I don’t know if you are aware of the difference you made in my life,” the woman told her, referring to a moment that occurred roughly two decades ago, when Kelley worked as a program coordinator […]
VETERANS DAY IN THE BOOKS? AT CALVET, EVERY DAY IS A NEW PAGE WHEN IT COMES TO SERVING THEM
The parades and picnics are over. Speeches made and proclamations read. The American flags that lined the streets throughout the country and California are neatly folded, stored until the next national holiday. Veterans Day – America’s annual day of thanking veterans for defending this country and the freedoms our Constitution guarantees – is in the […]
CALVET’S VETERANS DAY POSTER DEFINES OUR MISSION AND PURPOSE
As a nation, we rely upon our armed forces to protect and defend the Constitution and the rights and freedoms it guarantees. Our servicemembers risk their lives for the reward of maintaining our democracy; even putting this solemn duty ahead of their own wellbeing, families, and loved ones. Yet, over the decades, veterans have had […]
NORCAL OPERATION DRESS CODE SUCCEEDS AT HELPING WOMEN VETERANS DRESS FOR SUCCESS IN CIVILIAN WORKPLACE
They came. They browsed. They contoured. More than 70 women veterans and servicemembers enjoyed a day of boutique-style shopping and preparing for success as civilians during CalVet’s Northern California Operation Dress Code in Walnut Creek. The women combed through racks of donated blazers, pants, blouses, dresses, and other business-quality clothing to wear to job interviews […]
ASIAN AMERICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH: TWO VETERANS SEE IT AS A TIME TO EDUCATE
As Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month concludes, CalVet would like to introduce two distinguished American military veterans. Erin Dacumos Khanna attended the United States Air Force Academy, graduating in 2002 before embarking on a military career during which she rose to the rank of captain. Fessal Aziz served in the U.S. Marine Corps […]
OPERATION DRESS CODE DONATION DRIVE RUNS UNTIL JUNE 2
Operation Dress Code is now accepting donations of new and gently used business clothing and accessories to distribute to women veterans during a boutique event in Walnut Creek on June 11. CalVet Women Veterans Affairs is organizing the clothing drive and one-day boutique event. First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom helped kick off this year’s effort. […]
SIX MONTHS IN, DEPUTY SECRETARY WIMMER HAS VISION FOR WOMEN VETERANS AFFAIRS
In August 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Virginia Wimmer as CalVet’s Deputy Secretary of Women Veterans Affairs at CalVet. A veteran who spent 26 years in the United States Air Force, Wimmer left the service in 2012. She then began her new career as a veteran service officer with Solano County and then was appointed […]
TWO WOMEN VETERAN INNOVATORS LEFT THEIR MARKS ON YOUNTVILLE VETERANS HOME
As construction begins in earnest on the new $269 million skilled nursing facility at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, CalVet recognizes and remembers two remarkable women who left their imprints on the 138-year-old campus. Mary Dunaway helped it grow in the 1950s. Virginia Mae Days, the only woman to lead the California Department of Veterans […]
IS THERE A DOCTORATE IN THE HOUSE TO HELP WOMEN IN THE MILITARY? NAVY VET SAYS ‘YES’
Antwanisha Williamson, a CalVet Trailblazer Award recipient in October 2021, spent 18 years in the Navy, and was deployed immediately to the Middle East after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was one of her four overseas deployments during her Navy career that included tours of duty aboard the carrier USS Carl Vinson. Likewise, […]
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