GREAT LAKES, Ill. - A retirement ceremony was held for Capt. Debra Pennington May 13 at the USS Whitehat Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
Pennington is a 1976 graduate of Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School. She is the eldest daughter of Bernadine and the late William Fesko, of Mount Carmel.
Pennington enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1977 and completed her enlistment in 1981, attaining the rank of specialist 5. Her duty stations included Fort lee, Va. and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Belgium. Upon completion of her Army tour, she enrolled in a nursing program at Petersburg General Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1985 as a registered nurse.
She attended officer indoctrination school from May to July 1986, and after graduation, was assigned as a staff nurse in the Newborn Nursery, Millington, Tenn. from 1986 to 1988.
In 1988, she was sent to Yokosuka, Japan, where she was assigned as a staff nurse on the labor and delivery, postpartum and newborn nursery unit. In 1991, she was selected for Duty Under Instruction (DUINS) to complete her bachelor's degree in nursing.
She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1993 and was then assigned to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center from 1993 to 1997 where she served as an assistant division officer, postpartum and as a certified lactation consultant.
In 1997 she applied again for DUINS and was selected to attend Virginia Commonwealth University's women's nurse practitioner program. She graduated in December 1998 and reported to Naval Great Lakes, where she was assigned to USS Red Rover Branch Health Clinic as a woman's health practitioner from 1999 to 2001 at the Navy's only recruit in-processing clinic.
Pennington was transferred to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Va., from 2002 to 2005 as a woman's health nurse practitioner. Upon completion of this tour, she returned as a woman's health nurse practitioner to Naval Hospital Great Lakes, which later became Naval Health Clinic Great Lakes and is most recently known as the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare Center.
She deployed with the Expeditionary Medical Force Kuwait, where she serves as a woman's health practitioner for six months.
Pennington has been awarded the Navy Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Navy and marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon.
Pennington has two sons, Jason and Sean Pennington, and five grandchildren. Pennington plans to continue working on her goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states. At present she has done so in 33.