GILROY
– Make way for the lady. If not, you better believe she’ll make
a way for herself.
GILROY – Make way for the lady. If not, you better believe she’ll make a way for herself.
Jenny Belcher has a track record of doing just that. She joined the Navy in 1973, when the draft ended and a new era of opportunity for women in the military began. She was the first – and for one year the only – female officer at Point Loma Submarine Base in San Diego.
On Monday, she’ll be the first female to be honored as grand marshal in Gilroy’s seventh Memorial Day Parade.
“It’s kind of amazing,” Belcher said. “I’m surprised and very honored.”
Belcher decided to join the Navy after college, motivated in part by her father’s war stories, as well as by her mother’s death. Her mother had been supportive of a job in the military and, Belcher discovered later, had written letters to their Congressman to help her daughter join the military.
She entered Officer Cadet School in Rhode Island at a time when men’s and women’s roles were being integrated. Prior to the 1970s, women in the military were limited to nursing and support positions. Serving just before the end of the Vietnam War, she was among the first group of women to be trained similar to the men.
“I don’t feel like a trailblazer,” Belcher said. “But looking back, it was a trailblazing thing to do. Nobody else I knew was doing this.”
The base where she was stationed in San Diego was not even equipped with facilities for women.
“I had to fight just to get my own head,” Belcher said laughing, using the military slang term for toilet.
Other times, her uniform got in the way. Though one-inch pumps and straight black skirts worked most of the time for Belcher’s job as administrative officer, it presented some problems when she had to jump from pier to ship or climb ladders.
“They weren’t really sure what to do with women,” Belcher said. “They learned the hard way that what works with men doesn’t always work with women. It was all a learning lesson.”
Belcher remembers how, although women were very competitive when it came to academics, many – though not all – struggled when it came to tasks that involved navigation and spatial skills. Men had tended to take more shop classes and worked with cars, while most women did not have that background.
“Training was created for things like that and we learned quickly,” Belcher said. “It’s not that one group was smarter or less smart, but life tends to give one gender different experiences than the other.”
She credits the resolve of the commander and other high-ranking officials at the base for integrating men’s and women’s roles.
“They let me do my job,” she said. “It’s hard when a new group comes in, but they really wanted this to work.”
While it was unusual for women to join the military, it was not unusual for Belcher’s family. Her father fought in the British military during World War II (they moved to the United States when she was about 10 years old), her brother was a Marine and her husband served in the Air Force.
After her military experience, Belcher became a stay-at-home mom and raised her three children. She later completed her teaching credentials and embarked on a career in front of the classroom. In November, the South Valley Middle School math teacher was named the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation Educator of the Year.
Belcher has been teaching for 20 years now, but military service continues in her family. Her youngest daughter, Sara Hackett, 22, is serving in the Navy on the John C. Stennis in San Diego. Her daughter-in-law, Amber Hackett, is in the Army and recently returned from Iraq.
The military seeds were sown early for Sara Hackett, who remembers seeing her mother’s Navy uniform hanging in the closet.
“She made (the Navy) sound fun and challenging …,” said Hackett, a graduate of Gilroy High. “It’s been encouraging to know that my mom was one of the first female line officers.”
Belcher’s advice is “to take advantage of the situation that’s offered. Things you can learn there – training, people skills – all those things go back into giving you a head start in whatever you want to do later.”
Memorial Day happenings
Speeches and Invocation
When: 9 a.m.
Where: St. Mary Cemetery. 900 First St.
Who: Speakers include Mayor Al Pinheiro, Supervisor Don Gage, State Assemblyman Simon Salinas, Grand Marshal Jenny Belcher and active duty member Lisa Megan. The featured speaker is Linda Hall, who is a member of Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Currently, she is a business manager and crises clinician specializing in post traumatic stress disorder in San Jose. Her youngest son is on active duty with the U.S. Air Force.
Memorial Day Parade
When: 11 a.m.
Where: Along Tenth Street
Entries will be accepted until May 27, online at www.GilroyParade.com, or by calling Craig Gartman at 710-6090.
Family Fun Day
When: After the parade
Where: Christmas Hill Park
