Perhaps this has been said in this space in previous years, but “printer’s ink” apparently runs through the veins of my paternal linage beginning with my late grandfather, an early editor of The Atlanta Constitution. In subsequent generations, with the exception of my father’s, some one has pursued a career in journalism. My nephew edits books for a Boston publisher.

All of this to say I feel privileged to be able to write in my “day job” as well as my “night job” — correspondent for this newspaper and twice monthly columnist.

So when asked by T-R Executive Editor Beth Alston to cover the annual Memorial Day observance in Andersonville last Sunday afternoon, of course, I said “yes.” I could be in my “reporter” mode again for an afternoon. I was especially interested because a woman naval admiral was featured speaker and I could relate.

My late sister, Florrie Sisson Purnell, many years my senior and my surrogate mother, made history. She was among the first women commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy WAVES or “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service” during World War II.

Uniformed women were a wartime necessity — they were needed to man the desks of the thousands of men going off to war, and Florrie wanted very much to be a part of that war effort. I was a little girl at the time, but I remember she had her heart set on being an officer in the WAVES — nothing less would do. I have a vivid recollection of Florrie and my father talking after dinner one evening and the concern she expressed about being accepted in officer’s candidate school, but Daddy assured her it would happen. After all, she was a graduate of Brenau College in Gainesville.

Daddy was right. Florrie’s class was the second group of women to finish the Navy WAVES officer’s candidate course at Smith College, Missouri, commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy and sworn in as a Naval Reserve Ensign. How proud we all were. She looked snappy in uniform too.

Returning home to Atlanta, Florrie was stationed at the Naval Procurement office located downtown in the Healey Building. Among her duties was a weekly radio program, which at my age I thought very glamorous. I remember Daddy driving her to WSB’s radio station on Saturday mornings and I think it was one of those mornings while watching him shave he turned to me to say he hoped I would “turn out” as well as Florrie when I grew up.

While stationed in Atlanta, Florrie met her future husband, Jimmy Purnell of Charlotte, who she out ranked. He was a petty officer and she a lieutenant by the time they married. I remember she even had to get permission from someone in the Navy to wear a traditional wedding gown instead of uniform to walk down the aisle. After they married she was stationed in Washington, D.C., which she loved, and he in England.

Florrie didn’t continue her naval career like Admiral Wolfe, opting instead to rear their family of four. But her leadership talents didn’t lay idle. Before she lost her battle to cancer 23 years ago, she was a mover and shaker, volunteering with many organizations in her adopted city of Charlotte. My sister Florrie was one of the Great Generation, a gracious lady and a sailor.

SUMTER SEENS: Tyrone Smith and his “get down” band had everyone on their feet at the Soul Survivors dance at the Southwest Georgia Golf Links a couple of weeks ago. No wonder he’s called “Super T.” He runs non stop. At age 68, he’s more energetic than the Energizer bunny. His energy is contagious and among those he got on stage were John and Ashley Mixon, Diana Rossman, Joann Eckart, John Dean, Lisa Whitaker, Susan Welch. He even had Mary Elizabeth Easterlin singing “Proud Mary.” Others on the dance floor were Leslie and Kyler Crawford, local veterinarian, Caroline Spencer visiting parents, Wes and Jean Wheeler, Brown and Ginny Hodges, Ron and Georgia Scott, Hulme and Janet Kinnebrew, Steve and Mona Nelson, Todd and Pam Carson, Mark and Anne Barrett, Kevin and Jenny Reeves, Dan and Jeanne Faulkner, Sparky and Aileen Reeves, Billy and Kay Tye; then more than 200 turned out on a week night to show Dr. Chad Singleton, general surgery candidate at Sumter Regional Hospital, of Columbus, that Americus and Sumter County is a great place. Some glimpsed at the reception at the Old Library were Mandy and Ryan Young, Dr. Neal and Kathleen Seeley, who have move here and bought a house on Hancock Drive, general surgeon Dr. Jeffery Wallace, Dr. Jocelyn Rogers, and Dr. Rebecca Craig, Alex and Mandi Saratsiotis, Tracy Law, John and Rachel Sheely, Rick and Mary Katherine Davis, Allison Austin Morrison, Greg and Karen Austin, Lee and Faith Pinnell, Russ and Jarrett Barnes, Andrew Wilson; smile and say hello to Lydia and John Fowler and Jonathan and Heather Lefevers, recently moving back to Americus and Lucy Nicholson moving here with Habitat for Humanity International; Dr. Gatewood and Cindy Dudley celebrating his birthday surrounded by children and grandchildren (24 altogether); Lane Wooten touring London with mom Carey Wooten; Dr. Henry Teaford recuperating from broken hip; Murph Ledbetter recovering from surgery; Cathy Slaton visiting daughter Tiffany and John Dean and granddaughter Mary Catherine Dean; Beth Alston, home from vacation, Dan and Kay Sutton visiting Key West and congratulations to Wes Wheeler and Parker’s Heating & Air, recipient of Georgia Business of the Year Award presented at a grand celebration at the Renaissance Galleria, Atlanta.

Leila Case lives and works in Americus.