MHS recently had the honor to meet with Captain Margaret Spath (USNR, Retired), to talk about her service in the United States Navy Nurse Corps. Long-time Madison residents may also remember Capt. Spath as Pat Garrett, one of the five children of Charlie and Carol Garrett who grew up on the family farm on South Ridge Road in Madison township. Pat’s journey to a career as a Navy Nurse wasn’t the path she originally laid out, but it was one which allowed her to excel both as a nurse and as a teacher.
The Navy Nurse Corps has a proud tradition dating back to 1908 when Congress first authorized its creation. Unofficially, their history goes back to 1811, when a Naval Surgeon named William Barton recognized the many shortfalls in Naval medical care, including the lack of trained nurses. Barton advocated that female nurses should be employed by the Navy. It wasn’t until 1861 however that the Navy Department established the designation of ‘Nurse’, a job much like a hospital corpsman – and to be filled by men. Women nurses did volunteer during the American Civil War on Navy vessels and hospital ships. Later, during the Spanish-American War, the Navy employed a small number of women nurses in its shore hospitals. In 1965, the Navy Nurse Corps finally broke their gender barrier by allowing men to serve in the Nurse Corps.
As a 1968 Madison High School graduate, Pat describes herself as a ‘nerd’. She was active in the F.T.A. (Future Teachers of America), National Honor Society, and the Madison Scholarship Club, among other activities. While in high school, she had also become Pen Pals with several soldiers serving in Vietnam – a program that encouraged civilians to write letters to soldiers to let them know people back home were thinking of them. One soldier in particular, a Marine from Flint Michigan named Chuck Jones, wrote spirited, enthused letters about his life as a Marine.
Pat was accepted to Grove City College in Grove City, PA and began her studies in the fall of 1968 majoring in History and Earth Sciences with the intent of teaching. By the end of her Junior year at Grove City, Pat was encouraged by a faculty member to reconsider teaching. Reassessing her plan, she decided to pursue a career in nursing. One of her professors strongly advised her that she couldn’t complete the science prerequisites needed for pre-nursing in her Senior year. Despite the warning, Pat managed to get in almost all the nursing prerequisite hours needed and graduate Grove City on time in spring 1972, with a triple Bachelor’s Degree in History, Biology, and Languages.
In the fall of 1972, Pat enrolled in the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. Despite her intense class load, she created new friendships with students at Case, kept up with Madison friends, and continued writing to her Pen Pals. She recalled one occasion where her dad called her at school telling her she better come home. To her surprise, she found her pen pal Chuck Jones and several of his Marine buddies, on leave and on their way to Michigan, had stopped at the Garrett Farm! The Marines stayed for several days, being housed and fed by the Garrett family, and doing odd chores for Charlie. Pat describes Chuck as having a huge influence on her, due to his letters about the Marines and descriptions of military life. When Pat ran out of money to continue in Nursing school after her first year, she took herself to the Marine Corps Recruiting Station in Cleveland to sign up for their Nurse Corps. The recruiter told her Marines didn’t have a Nurse Corps, and when asked who they used when they needed nurses he replied “we use the Navy!!” In 1973 Pat enlisted in the Navy, which would cover the cost of her tuition, books, and some living expenses, in exchange for two years of service in the Navy. She graduated the next spring from CWRU’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.
After Nursing school, Pat was assigned to Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Newport, Rhode Island as an Ensign. OCS is a program to develop enlisted and newly commissioned personnel as outstanding officers with the highest ideals of honor, courage, and commitment. After OCS, she was assigned as a floor nurse on the Med Surgery unit at the Navy Hospital in Newport RI. After about 14 months, Pat was promoted to Charge Nurse, a Registered Nurse who oversees a department of nurses and Navy or Marine corpsmen, while working alongside the team, to ensure all nursing functions run smoothly. The job is a huge responsibility for someone recently graduated from nursing school, and Pat proved herself up to the challenge.
Pat served as an active-duty member of the Navy for eleven years. She was stationed primarily at Naval Station Newport (Rhode Island), and spent two years at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico. The scope of her responsibilities and skills required were similar, yet different from that of nurses in civilian employment. Naval nurses could hope to specialize in a variety of areas, such as critical care, emergency/trauma, medical/surgical, mental health, maternal infant nursing, neonatal critical care, pediatrics, and perioperative to name a few. However, Navy nurses report to a very different chain of command, and their assignments, and location postings changed as the Navy required. Her very first day of active duty was on Sick Officer Quarters at the hospital – an intimidating introduction for a very new, very junior officer. Her best anecdote (in the authors opinion) was one from when she was stationed in Roosevelt Roads. The hospital lost power, the doctor on the maternity ward was called away on an emergency, and Pat and an inexperienced naval corpsman were left to deal with three women in various stages of labor. The tale is better told by Pat, and I’ll just have to leave it at that.
Naval life was not all work and no play, fortunately. Pat did things she likely never imagined, growing up in Madison. She has rappelled from a helicopter, passed a Navy Level-4 Swim test, achieved Expert level marksman her first trip to the range (off duty, as medical personnel are not permitted to carry weapons), and learned to parasail, among other great experiences. She met her future husband Lee Spath, a Navy Weapons Officer, on a group outing while stationed in Newport. Three weeks before their wedding date, Pat was transferred to Roosevelt Roads in PR. Generally new transfers aren’t entitled to any time off at a new posting, so she had to do some fast talking to get allowance for a weekend leave for their wedding. Happily, her CO granted her weekend leave and on Halloween, 1976 Pat and Lee were married.
Pat continued to move up through the ranks of the Navy, becoming eligible for and receiving promotion every three years. Her skill and leadership abilities were recognized by senior officers, who encouraged her to continue her education. In 1985, Pat left active duty after 11 years, to serve in the US Navy Reserve and get her advanced degrees. She earned her Master’s degree in Nursing Administration from Salve Regina College in Newport RI, and a second Masters degree in Acute Care Nursing through the University of Massachusetts. In late July 1990 Lee died in Newport after suffering a heart attack. In August after his death, Pat relocated to Madison to be with family and raise their two daughters Carol and Katie here. She transferred to the Naval Reserve unit in Cleveland. By late August/early September her Reserve unit was deployed to Operation Desert Shield, and due to the hardship Pat received a deferral from the deployment.
Members of the Reserves generally hold down civilian jobs, and Pat taught nursing courses at Kent State Ashtabula for nine years. In 2000, after sixteen years in the Reserves and eleven years active duty, Pat retired with a total of twenty-seven years in the Navy. She continued to work in the civilian world, working for Lake Hospital Systems almost seventeen years in Home Health Care. In her job at LHS, she worked one-on-one with clients and their families, educating them and attending to their medical needs.
When I asked Pat if she would recommend the Navy Nurse Corps to someone, the answer was ‘Yes!’ The Corps offers tremendous opportunities to further your education, career advancement, and access to some of the best medical technology. Pat spoke of the excellent sense of camaraderie and lifelong friendships she developed with fellow Navy personnel.
She continues to be active in the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA). The FRA is a non-profit U.S. military and Veterans organization headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, chartered by the United States Congress that represents the interests of all members of the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine veterans and active-duty personnel in the United States. Similar in its aims to the VFW or American Legion, the FRA serves to maintain military benefits and health and welfare protections of active duty and retired personnel and their family. The FRA encourages veteran participation, and all Naval, Marine, and Coast Guard veterans are invited to join. The local FRA chapter, Branch 17 in Cleveland, sponsors a yearly essay contest open to all students in grades 7 – 12, to promote the spirit of patriotism in our country’s youth. Cash prizes are awarded at the local, regional, and national level for the 350 word essay.
MHS is honored Captain Margaret Spath (USNR, Retired) has allowed us to interview her, and we sincerely thank her for her service.
Madison Historical Society Executive Board & Advisors
Cheryl Swackhamer – President
Dianne Cross – Vice President
Donald Bartlett – Secretary
Michael Gehring – Treasurer / Business Manager
Marjorie Shook – Office Manager / Membership Chair
Sherry Carsey – Curator
John Vohlidka – Newsletter Editor
Trevor Behm – Advisor
Richard Collins Jr. – Advisor
Ned Foley – Advisor
David Van Dusen – Advisor
Shane Oravetz – Advisor
Carrie Svigel – Advisor
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