Nancy Vestal Wrenn (1922-2017), of Wilkes County and Southern Pines, North Carolina, served in the American Red Cross from 1945-1947.
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
This collection has not yet been digitized.
https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/840
2 photograph albums documenting Wrenn's time (along with Ruth White WV#0089) with the American Red Cross from 1945-1947. Albums contain annotated photographs from posting in Tokyo, Japan. Other American Red Cross women in Japan on U.S.S General Collins.. Portrait style photography is included showing Nancy and Ruth White (WV #0089) in Okinawa, Japan. Some postcard style photographs are included with typed captions, including "Cherry Dance", "Yomei-mon Gate of the Toshogu Shrine, Nikko. The most resplendent gate in the Orient". The albums also contain photographs from Honululu, San Francisco, and Nara, Japan. Many photos have separated from the scrapbook page; photographs; 2 VHS tapes
Nancy Vestal Wrenn (1922-2017), of Wilkes County and Southern Pines, North Carolina, served in the American Red Cross from 1945-1947. Nancy Vestal Wrenn was born 11 February, 1922 to Clement and Lyla Wrenn in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Wrenn graduated from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1943. In 1945 she joined the American Red Cross where she met Ruth White, another American Red Cross trainee, who became her life partner. They both were assigned to Okinawa, Japan until 1947. In 1947, Wrenn and White returned to the United States and the settled in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville, North Carolina. In 1948, Wrenn began teaching at Swannanoa High School, now Owen High School, where she taught social studies, history and English for thirty-four years. During those years, she also developed and taught a basic course in aero science. In 1965, Wrenn began taking flying lessons and ultimately earned her private license and ASEL commercial certificate. She was a member of the Carolinas Chapter of the Ninety-Nines, Inc., an international organization of women pilots, where she served in all levels of the chapter offices and several Southeast Section committee chairs. Wrenn also was a Charter Member of the Western N.C. Pilots Association. In 1952, Wrenn and White opened a summer camp for girls on the property where they also had built a home. The camp operated for one month each summer until 1973 and was named Awa-niko (Okinawa backwards). White died on 21 December 2017.
Women's History Military
Red Cross
World War II era (1940-1946) Post World War II, Korea (1947-1963)
World War, 1939-1945 Korean War, 1950-1953 American Red Cross
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
