First Nuns to be a U.S. Air Force Captain and Mayor

About the history of the first nuns to be a U.S. Air Force Captain and a U.S. mayor.

UNUSUAL FIRSTS

THE FIRST NUNS TO BE A U.S. AIR FORCE CAPTAIN AND A U.S. MAYOR

Mary Hargrafen, also known as Sister Mary Carl, was the first nun to become a captain in the U.S. Air Force. She was attached to the 2nd Air Medical Evacuation Squadron at Rhine-Main Air Base in West Germany in March, 1978. A member of the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque, Ia., Sister Mary Carl turned over most of her annual $20,000 salary to her convent. In 1980 Dubuque also had the distinction of electing the first nun as mayor of an American city--Sister Carol Farrell.