ROCHELLE — Mary Beth Papke of Rochelle served in the United States Navy Reserves for 36 years from 1985-2021. Papke served in medical units and retired as a Commander. Her service included two deployments.

Papke joined the Navy Reserves in January 1985 after spending time with a friend at one of their drill weekends and enjoying it. There was a program at the time called the Sea and Air Mariner (SAM) where enlistees could join the Navy Reserves and sign up for six years and get their college paid for, which she chose to take advantage of.

In March of 1985, Papke went to boot camp in Orlando, Florida and signed up as a Navy Hospital Corpsman, or medic, and later started a 12-week program for that. In her civilian life, Papke graduated from Nursing school in May 1988 and began work as a nurse. At that time she started school part-time to earn her Bachelor’s degree in order to get her Nurse Corps commission. A bachelor’s degree is required to become a Naval officer.

In May 1994, Papke graduated from the University of Illinois-Chicago with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and got her commission as a Naval Nurse corps officer.

“I always wanted to join the military, but I wasn't sure where that was going to fit in my life,” Papke said. “When I was doing my enlisted reserve duty, it was always one weekend per month and then two weeks a year. Every summer we'd do a two-week training. I have tons of wonderful memories of those training sessions. I was always in a medical unit of some kind. I loved it so much, so I just kept doing it. I retired from the Navy in May 2021 on my 60th birthday as a Commander.”

Papke’s first deployment was to Desert Shield/Storm in January of 1991 as an E-5 (second-class Petty Officer). She returned home in March 1991. She spent her time on the USNS Comfort Naval Hospital Ship in the Persian Gulf.

“It was a very unique experience,” Papke said. “I remember writing letters home, because that was the only way then. We really didn't see any wounded outside of one trip with some steam burns. And then the 100-Hour War came and it was over and we went home. That was my three months there. We were secured below deck when the war broke out because of all the fire and smoke.”

Papke’s second deployment came in 2011 as a Lieutenant Commander when she went to Germany to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for a year. Her department was Deployed Warrior Medical Management and she worked as a Clinical Coordinator for the Wounded Warriors.

That yearlong deployment required Papke to be away from her four children and husband. 

“I had to leave my four kids at home on Mother's Day,” Papke said. “I had to say goodbye to my 14-year-old Bryce, my 12-year-old Dylan, my 10-year-old Gwendolyn, and my six-year-old Troy. We bought Troy a camo Navy uniform to wear. It still chokes me up to think about that. Wherever you are, your service is needed. I've always felt like I was supposed to go over there that year. I missed the kids terribly. My husband, Mark, did a great job.”

In her first deployment, Papke recalled finding solace in her faith and doing Bible study with others, which helped her to get through it. 

In her second deployment in Germany being away from her children, Papke found purpose outside of her regular duties as a Naval nurse.

“I love to cook,” Papke said. “When I was in Germany we had allied forces with us that were fighting in Afghanistan such as the Republic of Georgia, Romania and other allied forces. There were a lot of Georgian soldiers. We had one doctor who was the liaison for all the Georgian soldiers. I wound up making them Khachapuri, which is like a calzone. I did that for a lot of the year. I missed cooking for my kids. So I cooked for them. They loved eating food from home. That was a cool experience. I did my regular duties, but sometimes to those younger soldiers, I did some things for them that a mom would, like giving them quilts to take home from the chaplain’s closet.”

Papke said her civilian career as a nurse and her work and training in medical units in the Navy went hand in hand and helped her to improve at both.

Those in the Navy Reserves are required to serve one weekend a month and for two weeks every year. After doing that for the majority of her life, Papke said she’s missed it every day since retirement. Her new civilian job has helped her to deal with that.

“Doing something like that for all that time, you miss it when it's gone,” Papke said. “But it was the end of that chapter. I needed something to do next. I currently work at the Veterans' Home in LaSalle as a nurse in the Alzheimer's unit. I think for the rest of my life, I'll always have a commitment in some way to veterans. They need that love and support from other veterans.”

Outside of the year when she was deployed, Papke attended every Veterans Day at her children’s schools. Her service helped her kids to understand and appreciate veterans more.

Papke said she chose to stay in the Navy for 36 years because of the camaraderie, the service, the people and the work. She enjoyed the leadership development she was blessed with in the military and called the mentors she learned from “wonderful.” Each time she put her uniform on, she felt pride.

“I always wanted to stay in,” Papke said. “Every time I thought about whether I wanted to keep doing it, the answer was always yes. It just evolved into the long career that I had. In all I did serving, everything gives you a unique experience of service. I have lifelong friends from it that I treasure. It's a lot of work. It was a wonderful career. I'm proud to have served.”

Honoring Our American Hero is a series that will print twice a month in the News-Leader. If you know an American Hero you would like to have featured, contact Jeff Helfrich at jhelfrich@rochellenews-leader.com or call 815-561-2151.