Clara L. Adams-Ender

1993 Honoree

Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender was born in Wake County, North Carolina. She was one of ten children who were blessed because their parents taught them to value of work and education.

Adams-Ender learned her lessons well, graduating from high school at 16, and four years later from the School of Nursing at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

After college in Greensboro, she joined the U.S. Army Nursing Corps and received a second lieutenant's commission in 1961. While serving all over the world and in a variety of assignments, she earned a reputation for achievement and leadership.

Throughout her career she has shown an uncanny ability for seizing the moment and making it hers. Adams-Ender became the first woman as well as the first black American woman to perform many noteworthy tasks. For example, in 1916 she became the first woman to earn the masters of Military Arts and Science Degree at the U.S. Army Command and Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1982, she became the first black Nurse Corps officer to graduate from the U.S. Army War College.

In 1986, Adams-Ender became the chief of nursing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the largest health-care facility in the armed forces. One year later, this strong woman became the eighteenth Chief of the Army Nurse Corps.

Usually the Chief of the Army Nurse Corps retires when her tour of duty ends. General Adams-Ender remained and in 1991, was appointed Deputy Commanding Officer for the Military District of Washington and commanding general at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.