Reply #18: When I first met her, she was "Commander Grace" as I recall - "Captain Grace" the rest of the time.

[TahitiNut]

The Navy is, first and foremost, an armed service. Like all of them, it grants promotions primarily to people with leadership and combat experience. Sea duty is virtually obligatory in the Navy. EXCEPTIONAL people are recognized on their left breast, not on their sleeves - according to the "military mind." Having been a cadet at the USCGA and, later, having been in the Army in Viet Nam, I remember knowing it was enormously remarkable that she was a Captain. For me, that was quite a "wow' ... but her wit and incisiveness made it evident why she was.

I used to get a kick out of seeing her sit in the audience at the conferences, doing her knitting. The combination of a gray-haired woman in a Navy Captain's uniform doing knitting at a conference of computer nerds was just too, too much for me to not get to know her a little bit. That's even before I knew "who" she was (in the "Who's Who" sense). She wasn't honey-tongued - 'acerbic' is more like it - and I liked that. She'd obviously dealt with enough of us nerds that she 'handled' casual interactions (and hero-worshipping butt-kissing) quite adroitly.