McAfee, Mildred H. (Mildred Helen), 1900-1994

<p>Mildred Helen McAfee Horton (12 May 1900 – 2 September 1994) was an American academic who served during World War II as first director of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the United States Navy. She was the first woman commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.</p>

<p>In addition to her distinguished military service, Mildred H. McAfee was also the 7th president of Wellesley College. She was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and was co-chair of President John F. Kennedy's Women's Committee for Civil Rights.</p>

<p>As a pioneer for women's roles in the mid 20th Century, Mildred H. McAfee was the first woman to serve on the boards of New York Life Insurance, the New York Public Library, and RCA. She was the first woman chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of New Hampshire. As all of her work was compelled by her faith, she was first woman president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the first woman vice-president of the Federal Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches.</p>

<p>Mildred Helen McAfee was born in Parkville, Missouri, on 12 May 1900. She graduated from Vassar College in 1920 and received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1928. Miss McAfee pursued a career in higher education and became President of Wellesley College in 1936. Taking a leave of absence from that position, she became the Navy's first female line officer on 3 August 1942. Commissioned a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, she simultaneously undertook the demanding task of Director of the Navy's newly-established Women's Reserve. In November 1943, following the passage of new legislation by the Congress, she was promoted to the rank of Captain.</p>


<p>As its first Director, Captain McAfee guided the growth of the WAVES ("Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service") to a force of more 80,000 Navy women in a variety of occupational specialties. Following her marriage to the Reverend Dr. Douglas Horton in August 1945, she took the name of her husband. Captain Horton continued on active duty until February 1946, when she returned to the Presidency of Wellesley College. Captain Mildred McAfee Horton died on 2 September 1994.</p>

Horton, Mildred McAfee (12 May 1902–02 September 1994), college president and director of the WAVES, was born Mildred Helen McAfee in Parkville, Missouri, the youngest of three daughters of the Reverend Dr. Cleland Boyd McAfee and Harriet Brown McAfee. Her father, a leading theologian and activist in the Presbyterian church, taught at the town’s Park College, which had been founded by her grandfather. When Cleland McAfee moved to Chicago as minister of the Fourth Presbyterian Church, Mildred attended the prestigious Francis W. Parker School. She then enrolled at Vassar College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1920.