Duerk was born in Defiance, Ohio, on March 29, 1920, to Albert and Emma Duerk. She had nursing training at Toledo HospitalSchool of Nursing, from which she received her diploma in 1941.
Career
On January 23, 1943, she was appointed as an ensign in the Nurse Corps of the U.S. Naval Reserve. After receiving her commission in 1943, she was assigned in March of that year as a Ward Nurse at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia. In January 1944, she transferred, in a similar capacity, to the Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland and in May 1945 joined the That vessel, anchored off Eniwetok, received the sick and wounded brought back from Third Fleet operations against Japan and later joined the Third Fleet for its last strikes against the enemy. After the cessation of hostilities, that hospital ship remained in Japanese waters, off Yokosuka, to assist in the processing of liberated Allied prisoners of war. The Benevolence returned to the United States with wounded servicemen in late 1945. Assigned in January 1946 to the Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois, Durek continued duty there until June of that year, when she was released from active naval service. She attended the Frances Payne BoltonSchool of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, from which she received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Ward Management and Teaching, Medical and Surgical Nursing, in 1948. Employed as Supervisor and Instructor, Medical Nursing, at Highland Park General Hospital, she remained there until 1951. While there, she joined a ready naval reserve unit in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948. Ordered to return to active naval service, she reported in June 1951, as a ward nurse at the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia. Transferred in September 1951 to the Naval Hospital Corps School, Portsmouth, she was a Nursing Instructor there until October 1956, when she became Interservice Education Coordinatorat the Naval Horpital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From June 1958 to May 1961 she served as Nurse Programs Officer at the Naval Recruiting Station, Chicago, Illinois, after which she had duty as Charge Nurse at the U. S. Naval Station Hospital, Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines. In April 1962 she was assigned as Assistant Chief Nurse at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, Japan. During the period May 1963 to June 1965 she was the Senior Nurse Corps Officer at the Naval Station Dispensary, Long Beach, California. Following an assignment as Chief of the Nursing Branch at the Naval Hospital Corps School, San Diego, California, she reported in May 1966 as Assistant for Nurse Recruitment in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Washington, D. C. She remained there until May 1967, then had duty until February 1968 as Assistant Head of Medical Placement Liaison, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Department. She next returned to the Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, where she became Director of the Navy Nurse Corps, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department. Advancing progressively in rank, she attained that of captain on July 1, 1967. She became the first female admiral in the Navy in 1972. Duerk retired in 1975. She died in Central Florida on July 21, 2018, at the age of 98.
In 2013 the University of Central Florida College of Nursing unveiled a bronze statue of Duerk, and it was put on display there. That university also offers the Rear Admiral Alene Duerk VNA Endowed Nursing Scholarship.
Personal Life and Retirement
Having heard of her promotion to Rear Admiral on the radio in her car, a toll booth operator was the first person Duerk spoke to about it. But by the time she had gotten home, family was already calling and the press was waiting for her. From that time on, she felt that she was not only an admiral, she was a spokeswoman for all the women in the Navy. In that role, she frequently made appearances and statements in support of her Navy women, fighting for increases in pay, better conditions and recruiting nurses. After retirement, she joined the board of the Visiting Nurse Association in the early 1990s, which later became the Visiting Nurse Foundation in 1997, serving on the board for nearly 25 years. The board established the Admiral Alene Duerk Endowed Scholarship Fund at University of Central Florida in her honor. Although she was very close to her family, Duerk never married or had children of her own.
