PHM1 US Navy, Patricia “Pat” Flick (Christman)

From December 14, 1942, to 1945, Patricia “Pat” Elizabeth Flick (Christman) served in the Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). ¹ She did basic training at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and was stationed at the naval air station in San Diego where she was a laboratory technician and later at Great Lakes, Illinois. ^{2, 3, 4}

Flick was born on July 11, 1919, to Durah Blaine Lang and Oka S. Flick in Indianapolis, Indiana. ¹ She married Karl Christman on October 2, 1948. ⁵ In 1955, after earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and educational administration from Indiana University, Flick moved to Albuquerque to work for the public school system. ¹ She served Albuquerque students as a teacher, principal, and administrator for 30 years. ¹ From 1958 to 1969, she was the assistant principal at Rio Grande High School. ^{6, 7} In 1971, she was the principal at Jefferson Junior High School, the only woman principal at the secondary level in Albuquerque at the time. ⁶ Allowing political discussions at school and banning corporal punishment were new policies that Flick initiated. ⁸ She was also the coordinator for a federal project called the Future Schools Study. ⁹ Later she became the principal of Sandia High School. ⁶ She remarked on her educational philosophy, “In high schools, we have concentrated on creativity and development of ideas rather than studying or memorizing facts.” ¹⁰ In the late 1970s, she was the East Area Director of Secondary Education in Albuquerque and was one of only three women in administrative positions in the Albuquerque Public School District. ¹¹ One newspaper reported, “Christman was the best school administrator to come down the pike in a long time.” ¹² Flick retired in 1985. ¹ She once told the Albuquerque Tribune, “All kids are great when you get them involved.” ¹² Flick Christman enjoyed needlework and knitting, and she and her husband enjoyed travel and the friendship of many. ¹