In Memory – Colonel Ethel S. Underwood

We’re sorry to report the passing of 2017 Living Legend, Col. Ethel Underwood, on July 19, 2018 at the age of 93. After a groundbreaking career in the US Air Force Reserve Nurse Corps, becoming the first African American woman to achieve the rank of Colonel, she spent decades during her retirement as a volunteer and a leader in Alexandria.

She worked with a number of organizations, and received special recognition and honors from many, including the Virginia legislature, NAACP, AARP, the Alexandria Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Alfred Street Baptist Church, the Northern Virginia Urban League, the Alexandria Commission on Aging, and the Alexandria Commission for Women, and the Living Legends of Alexandria.