LaVergne G. Celestine, 1918-2011

 

With her disciplined personality and drive to succeed, LaVergne G. Celestine left her Chicago home and joined the Women's Army Corps during World War II.

Mrs. Celestine was among 6,500 African-American women who enlisted in the WACs at a time when the military was a segregated institution.

Black enlisted women lived, served and trained in segregated units. Many were assigned to work as uniformed domestic servants, cleaning officers clubs.

Undaunted by the racist policies, Mrs. Celestine persevered and earned respect by becoming one of the first black WACs to attain the rank of first sergeant, in 1944.

"She loved her time in the Army and wanted to make a difference in her country," said longtime friend Cecilia A. Mowatt.

"She was very humble and not focused on color or race. She was proud of who she was as an individual," Mowatt said.

In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order ending segregation in the armed forces.

After being honorably discharged from the military, Mrs. Celestine continued serving the government as an Army recruiter, and in later years with the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department.

Mrs. Celestine, 92, died of complications from pneumonia Thursday, March 10, at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

She was born LaVergne Grose, the fourth and youngest child of Ida Kane and John Grose, who had come to Chicago's South Side from Pennsylvania.

She attended Carver Elementary and Lucy Flower High School. After graduation, she worked as a patternmaker and shipping clerk at Edward L. Weis, a dress manufacturer.

In 1942, she enlisted in the Army and started basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, with the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which later became the Women's Army Corps.

A year later, she was moved to Camp Atterbury in Indiana, where she was promoted to supply sergeant. In 1944, she was named acting first sergeant.

A February 1944 letter from the commanding captain at Camp Atterbury praised her service, stating, "What we appreciate about Sgt. Grose is not only her willingness to accept her responsibility … but the initiative which she uses and the untiring devotion she has for her job."

In "The Camp Crier," an Army newspaper published in 1944, Mrs. Celestine was described as "a quiet mild-mannered person though she can be really tough when necessity demands it."

She was meticulous during Saturday morning inspections of her troops, according to a newsletter. The results of her inspection often included details such as "shoes are 1/8 inch off line … dust particle on bed post."

After being discharged from the military in 1946, Mrs. Celestine returned to Chicago and worked with the U.S. Postal Service and Internal Revenue Service.

She married Sydney Celestine in 1951.

In 1957, she began her 18-year career with the Treasury Department's Chicago Disbursing Center, which handles the disbursement of 90 million checks covering federal tax refunds, Social Security and other payments for a six-state region.

At the Treasury, she started as a staff assistant and rose to become deputy director. In that managerial role, Mrs. Celestine guided the center through a complex transition to a new computer system. She was also charged with training and developing personnel. She retired in 1975.

After retirement and her husband's death in 1983, she began nurturing her creativity with paper and ribbon in the Neiman Marcus gift wrap department.