PhM1 Mary Jane Mogavero Oral History

title:

PhM1 Mary Jane Mogavero Oral History

creator:

Mogavero, Mary Jane "Jari" (Whitesell) (1924 Octover 27 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

Mary Jane "Jari" Mogavero (formerly Whitesell) was born on October 27, 1924 in Lowell, Maine. When she was four her family moved to West Virginia, where she grew up with her parents Mary Louise (King) and Gamaliel "Gay" Whitesell and her two sisters. Her father was a trained construction engineer and considered himself as a "jack of all trades," and her mother was a housewife who had taught school prior to being married. Growing up she was quite a tomboy, and loved climbing trees to read so she couldn’t hear people calling for her. She graduated from Kingwood High School and attended Potomac State College of West Virginia University studying pre-med. She was a senior in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and her dad immediately asked where his Navy uniform was when he heard. She was the oldest and had no brothers, so she felt that it was her duty to enter the service too. Mary Jane joined the Navy WAVES in November 1944, enlisting rather than going to OCS with the goal of working in a hospital. She went to basic training at Hunter College in New York, then to the Bethesda Naval Base in Maryland to complete pharmacist’s mate training. After completing the three-month training, she was assigned to the Bainbridge Naval Hospital in Maryland. Bainbridge was one of the hospitals that men from the east coast who were seriously wounded would be sent to receive treatment before being discharged. She worked at Bainbridge Naval Hospital until her discharge in 1946, and afterwards she continued her studies at Columbia University School of Nursing, graduating in 1949. She worked as a Registered Nurse at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York and then the University of Cincinnati, Wyoming Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. While living in Cincinnati, Mary Jane took postgraduate classes at Xavier University. Mary Jane was married for 58 years to Arcangelo Anthony (Arch) Mogavero and they had five children together. When she left the service, Jari had reached the rank f pharmacist’s mate 1st class, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. She is a proud long-time member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Jari passed away at the age of 96 on November 3, 2012. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Greenwood, Anne

date:

2004-07-09

type:

Moving Image

format:

Hi-8

identifier:

655; 2004.655

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

192560

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46

rights:

Unrestricted