Severna Park Library Celebrates Female Veterans

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In honor of Veterans Month, the Severna Park Library will hold an event to celebrate female veterans. The event, Celebrating Women Veterans, will feature a panel of female veterans telling their stories.

“I noticed, in doing research for previous Veterans Day programs, that not a lot of attention seemed to be paid to women veterans,” said Andy Wolverton, a librarian at the Severna Park branch who has organized Veterans Day programs in the past.
Wolverton’s wife is on active duty in the Navy. “I want young people to be able to come and see a real veteran and hear their story,” Wolverton said. “It’s great learning that in history class, reading that in the textbooks, but when you have an actual person who actually served, they can tell you this is what it felt like. There’s not many places you can get that.”

Denise Nooe, the deputy director of outreach and advocacy at the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, will present information at the Celebrating Women Veterans event.

“It’s important to honor all veterans, but women don’t always get the same attention. They are smaller numbers of the veterans population,” Nooe said. “It’s nice to have events that highlight their contributions to the armed forces and to our country.”

Nooe, who has worked in the veterans space for 35 years, said there are often misconceptions about who qualifies as a veteran.

“Not everyone is clear on who’s a veteran, and sometimes that even falls to the veteran community itself,” Nooe said. “Women veterans, in particular, often don’t think of themselves as veterans because they may not have served in combat, for example.”

With Severna Park located close to military bases, Wolverton it’s important to recognize all of the veterans in the community.

“I think it’s ironic that even though we live in the area that we live in, maybe people are too close to it that they don’t appreciate veterans as much as I think they should,” Wolverton said.

The event will span less than an hour, Wolverton said. It will start with a short introduction on women in the military, and then the audience will hear from the speakers. At the end of the presentation, Wolverton is considering a panel for audience members to pose questions to the speakers.

Celebrating Women Veterans will be held at the Severna Park Library on Saturday, November 10, at 1:00pm. For more information, visit www.aacpl.net/location/severnapark.

severna park library, veterans day

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