Winifred Collins Winifred ' Quick ' Collins ( November 26 , 1911 – May 5 , 1999 ) was Chief of Naval Personnel for Women in the United States Navy , and Director of the WAVES ( Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service ) from 1957 to 1962 . Early life . She was born Winifred Mary Redden , in Great Falls , Montana , United States . She was the third child of four of Daniel A . Redden and Mary Winifred Redden ( maiden name Farrell ) . When Collins was 10 years old , her family moved to Missoula , Montana to run a hotel . A year later her parents divorced . When she was 11 , she contracted a mild case of polio , but fully recovered without suffering a lasting disability . Soon after this her mother abandoned her , and she spent the next few years living with relatives in various locations . After attending High School in four different states , Collins graduated in 1929 while living Seattle with one of her brothers . In 1930 she received a scholarship from the Brunswig Drug Corporation to attend the University of Southern California . She graduated with a Major in business , in 1935 . It was in 1935 that she married her first husband Roy Quick . Also in that year , Collins got a job as the Personnel manager of Brunswig Drug Corporation . She recommended a number of changes to the President of the company ; she suggested that the employees should be paid according to their performance and job type , regardless of gender . Because of the subsequent improvement in productivity Collins was financed , in 1937 , to attend the Harvard - Radcliffe Training Course in Personnel Administration . In 1938 , she was one of five who graduated from the first course . Military career . Dr . Ada Comstock , the President of Radcliffe College when Collins was educated there , sat on a committee that was looking into the idea of recruiting women into the US Navy . She contacted Collins in June 1942 with a suggestion that she might apply for a commission . On August 4 of that year , Collins graduated from the first female commissioning class held at Smith College , Northampton , Massachusetts and was commissioned with the rank of Ensign on August 28 , 1942 . After the month long training at Smith College , the Commanding Officer of the Naval Officer School , Captain Underwood , requested that she would stay on as the Personnel Director . Two months later , she was promoted to Lieutenant ( junior grade ) . Her next assignment was in the summer of 1943 ; she was sent to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington DC . She was one of twelve Naval officers tasked with the evaluation of the jobs the WAVES could do within the Navy as a whole , and the skills they would require to do them . In late 1944 , the now Lieutenant Collins was the first female non - medical officer to serve outside the Continental United States when she was sent to Hawaii as the District Personnel Officer . She organised accommodation for 5 , 000 WAVES who were going to be posted there in January 1945 . At the end of World War II , Collins was tasked with the demobilization of the WAVES and their reintroduction into civilian life . For this , she was promoted to Lieutenant Commander , and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal . In 1946 , Collins returned to Washington DC and helped plan the eventual inclusion of females into the Navy ; this led to the " 1948 Women ' s Armed Forces Integration Act " . On October 15 , 1948 , the first female Commissioned Officers of the United States Navy were sworn in ; Collins was one of them . In 1951 , she was then sent to Stanford University by the Navy for post graduate education and graduated in 1952 with a Master of Education . She then became the Assistant Director of Naval Personnel for the 12th Naval District ; the area of the US comprising Nevada , Utah , and Northern California . In 1953 she was promoted to Commander ; one of only two female Commanders in the entire US Navy . Between 1953 and 1956 , Collins was Personnel Director of the 12th Naval District , and commanded 350 Navy personnel . This was the highest post ever held by a female Officer in the Navy . Her next post was to London , United Kingdom as Senior Assistant to the Commander in Chief of Naval Forces ( Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean ) . Returning to the United States in the summer of 1957 she was appointed Chief of Naval Personnel for Women and promoted to the rank of Captain . She was the only female Captain , making her the most senior woman in the Navy , until she retired from service on August 31 , 1962 . Later life , death and legacy . Upon retirement of from the navy , Collins became the first female director of the Military Officers Association of America in 1964 , and the first female National Vice President of the Navy League of the United States in 1965 , and was later the Director . < ref name = " userpages . aug . com / captbarb / arlington . html " > < / ref > The Navy League have an award named after her ; the " Captain Winifred Quick Collins Award " . In 1977 , she was elected as the first female director of Corn Products International , a global consumer food products operation . Further Navy related roles she filled include ; the first female trustee of the United States Naval Academy Foundation , in 1977 ; the first women named in the " Navy League ' s Hall of Fame " in 1990 . Collins died at the Hospice of Northern Virginia on May 5 , 1999 after suffering from spinal cancer . She was buried on May 25 , 1999 , in section 3 of the Arlington National Cemetery . In 1973 , the Navy League of the United States established an award in her honor called the Captain Winifred Quick Collins Awards for Inspirational Leadership presented to a woman officer and an enlisted woman for exceptional leadership and performance in their military duties . Personal life . Collins was married twice . She was married after she graduated from college to Roy T . Quick . Their marriage lasted from 1937 to 1941 when they divorced . In 1961 , she married Rear Admiral Howard Lyman Collins . From her second marriage she had two step - son s ; Howard Lyman Collins , Jr . , and John Collins . Her second husband died in 1984 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery .