Petty Officer 1st Class, Rosemary Catherine [Wallace] Delano

In 1942, Rosemary “Rodi” Catherine Delano joined the United Service Organization (USO).¹ At the age of 20, in 1944, Rosemary Catherine Delano enlisted in the US Navy due to her experience with the USO.¹ She was trained as a medical corpsman at Bethesda Naval Hospital.¹ Following her training, Delano was stationed at Saint Albans Hospital in New York, where she cared for men wounded overseas.¹

Rosemary Wallace was born in the Southwest Side of Chicago in 1924 to Margaret Hassett and Walter Wallace.¹ Wallace enjoyed dance and art, which lead her to studying at the American Academy of Arts prior to joining the USO.¹ Following the end of the war, Delano went back to school and studied fashion design.¹ She worked as a fashion illustrator in both Amarillo, Texas and Louisville, Kentucky.¹ During this period, she met her husband, Franklin Delano and they had three daughters: Kim, Lisa, and Susan.¹ Following the death of her husband, Delano eventually moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she served as a docent for both the Santa Fe Opera and several local museums.¹ The Archbishop of Santa Fe awarded her with the St. Francis of Assisi Award in 2007, due to Delano’s “tireless dedication to the church in the effort of bringing all faiths together in the love of God.”¹