From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (African American Women Veterans in and from Kentucky)

Gardner, Hattie E. Tevis

(born: April 16, 1916 - died: July 30, 1973)

Subject

Women's Army Corps (WACs)

Nurses

Migration North

Military and Veterans

World War II

Military Branch

Women's Army Corps

Active Duty Entered

January 21, 1943

Notes

In May of 1944, Hattie E. Tevis was among the 153 women from central and eastern Kentucky serving in the Women's Army Corps (WAC). The year 1944 was the second anniversary of the establishment of the WAC. Tevis enlisted in the Army in 1943 in Cincinnati, OH, according to her record in the National Archives. She was living in Lexington, KY at that time. After her military service, she settled in Chicago, IL. She was there when her father died in 1954.

Prior to joining the Army, Hattie Tevis had been a member of the Negro Nurse Unit in Lexington. She was one of the students in the series of Negro home nursing classes held in Lexington in August 1942. The classes were taught at the Public Health Center. Tevis was also a member of Section 2 of the Colored Division of the War Chest Drive.

Hattie E. Tevis was born in Camp Nelson, KY, the daughter of Maude Spillman and James Tevis. The family was living in Bethel, KY (Jessamine County) when they were enumerated in the 1920 U.S. Census. They were living in Lee, KY, when they were enumerated in the 1930 U.S. Census.

Hattie E. Tevis Gardner died in Chicago, IL in 1973. She is buried in the Camp Nelson Family Cemetery in Nicholasville, KY.

Sources: "WAC anniversary finds 153 central Kentuckians serving," Sunday Herald-Leader, 5/14/1944, p. 10; "Honor Roll: May local women now in the WAAC," The Lexington Herald, 7/1/1943, p. 18; "Class meeting called," The Lexington Leader, 8/3/1942, p. 3; "Double V garden party in "Colored Notes," the bottom of column 7, Sunday Herald-Leader, 8/16/1942, p. 12; and "Colored Notes," The Lexington Herald, 10/29/1942, p. 13.

See also James Tevis in "Colored Notes," The Lexington Leader, 5/15/1954, p. 7; Hattie Tevis Gardner at Find A Grave; "Gardner, Miss Hattie," Lexington Herald, 8/3/1973, p. 2; and the Cook County, Illinois Death Index in Ancestry.