Pearl Elinor Faurie
YNCM Pearl Elinor Faurie, USCGR(Ret.), 96, on March 8, 2008, in Falls Church, Va. Born Oct. 7, 1911 in Ellwood City, Pa., she first enlisted in the Navy WAVES in late 1942. Four months later, she “jumped ship” for the Coast Guard when CAPT Dorothy Stratton, the first Director of the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARs), came recruiting because Faurie figured “she could be advanced faster in the USCG.” She served as a yeoman at Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and lived at the SPAR barracks, located during World War II between 7th and 12th Streets on Independence Avenue. Faurie served on active duty until 1946. During the Korean War, she reenlisted in the Reserve in 1950 and, as a chief yeoman, supervised six yeomen who made up the Reserve Training Unit Program. For a six-month period in 1952, she was assigned to the Intelligence Division on a special project for the Treasury Department. She stayed on active duty, was the first SPAR advanced to E-8 (senior chief yeoman) July 1, 1960, and the first SPAR advanced to E-9 (master chief yeoman) Jan. 1, 1964. At one point, she also served as Vice President of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Chief Petty Officers Association. She retired from the USCGR July 1, 1971. In retirement, she enjoyed volunteer work, especially at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Va., and traveling, visiting Point Barrow, Alaska, New Zealand, South America, the Far East, Middle East and Europe. In 2001, the MCPO Pearl E. Faurie Leadership Award was established in her honor and is awarded annually to an outstanding Coast Guard enlisted woman. YNCM Faurie is survived by cousins Lynne Rex, Ward Miller, Bonnie Carl, all from the Chicago, Ill. area; Jim Ewart, of Hendersonville, N.C.; three nieces, Linda Jones, Patricia Craven, both of New Castle, Pa.; and Mary Louise Filer Jones, of Mercer, Pa. Funeral services were held April 8, 2008, at the Arlington National Cemetery Administration Building, Arlington, Va. Interment Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium with military honors. Memorial donations may be made to the Women’s Memorial Foundation, Dept. 560, Washington, DC 20042-0560; 1-800-222-2294; E-mail: hq@womensmemorial.org.
04/03/08 Submitted by: 
Fred A. Siegel
