Marjorie Ruth Deloach Heuer was born in Villa Grove, Ill., on Feb. 4, 1925, to Mr. and Mrs. George A. Deloach.

Heuer’s brother Albert was killed fighting with the Army during the Battle of the Bulge, and she volunteered to serve in the Navy’s all-female Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II.

Heuer served as a Hospital Apprentice First-Class (HA1). The numerous contributions of the WAVES proved to be a vital asset to winning the war. Congress was slow to recognize the need for women in the Navy, but President Roosevelt realized that service women would be a wartime plus and signed the WAVES Corps into law on July 30, 1942.

Upon completion of her service in the Navy, Heuer attended Augustana College and the Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Moline and became a registered nurse in 1950. The next year, on Dec. 23, 1951, she married Lyle C. Heuer, who served in the Army during the Korean War. She retired from nursing in 1970. The couple had two sons and farmed outside Walcott in Scott County, Iowa, until Lyle’s retirement in 1992.

Heuer died on December 30, 2008, at the age of 82. Lyle preceded her in death in 2003.

We honor her service.