Kathleen Mae Donahue Bruyere, Capt., USN (Ret.)

CHULA VISTA —

Captain Kathleen Mae Donahue Bruyere, USN (Ret.), 76, of Chula Vista died from complications of cancer Thursday, Sept. 3 at Paradise Valley Hospital in San Diego. As a Naval Officer, Captain Bruyere was a lifelong trailblazer who won the right for women to serve aboard ships and receive equal opportunities for training and promotion in the Navy. After retirement, she selflessly continued to step up and serve veterans and the community through her volunteer work at the Miramar National Cemetery, the George G. Glenner’s Alzheimer’s Center, and numerous board positions at the Parkinson’s Association of San Diego, and the local chapter of the Military Officer’s Association of America.

Captain Bruyere was born to LTC Joseph Donahue, United States Army and Lucille Alessandroni Donahue of Philadelphia, PA. She was inspired by volunteering and military service at an early age. After graduation from Chestnut Hill College in 1966, she enlisted in the Navy and attended Officer Candidate School. In 1968, she married Kellie Byerly who was also a Navy officer, amicably they later divorced. While assigned to Navy Recruiting District New York, she met Naval officer Captain Thomas Bruyere and they were married in 1988.

February 5, 1944 - September 3, 2020

In January 1976, Time magazine changed an annual tradition. Instead of selecting a “Person of the Year” for its cover, it featured 12, “Women of the Year.” The women chosen included Billie Jean King, Carla Hills, Betty Ford and Kathy Bruyere, a 31-year-old Navy Lieutenant Commander. At the time, Captain Bruyere, who was then Kathleen Byerly, was the first woman to be Flag Executive Officer and Aide de Camp to a Navy Admiral. As head of Rear Admiral Allen Hill’s staff, she was the liaison between his headquarters and nine Pacific training commands. In the Time article, unpopular amongst Navy leadership, when interviewed she predicted, “there will be a seagoing woman Admiral in the U.S. Navy in the not too distant future.” Though she herself would never become an Admiral, Captain Bruyere would spend much of her career paving the way for other women to do so.

In 1977, she and five other Navy women filed a class-action suit against the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy because the

law prohibited women to serve on combatant ships and aircraft. They argued that their chance for promotions and opportunities were limited because of the discriminatory law and unfair practice. In a recent interview published in March for San Diego Veterans Magazine and Homeland Magazine, Captain Bruyere said one of her fellow plaintiffs, a pilot, was told, “you can deliver supplies to the ship, just don’t land on the ship.” The following year a federal judge declared the policy unconstitutional to prohibit Navy women from serving aboard combatant ships at sea and on aircraft. Victory came too late for Captain Bruyere to consider life aboard a ship. She stayed with personnel and recruiting specialties at Navy installations around the country.

In 1983, after being appointed head of Navy Personnel Support Activity in Philadelphia, she told The Philadelphia Inquirer she planned to bring the Navy’s “personnel management system into the computer age.”

In 1987, as Special Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations for women’s policy, Captain Bruyere helped conduct an examination of the status of Navy women which looked at career opportunities as well as complaints of sexism. The study opened up 9,000 sea-duty and command jobs for women on 24 combatant ships.

In 1991, Captain Bruyere was selected and assigned as Commanding Officer for the Navy Recruit Training Command at Orlando, Florida. At the time, it was the Navy’s only boot camp that included women. She told the Orlando Sentinel that she viewed her command as a potential lab for creating coeducational training and study programs to teach teamwork and mutual respect in the hope of reducing abuse and assault incidents.

She retired from the Navy in 1994 after 28 years of exemplary selfless service. After retirement she and husband Tom made Baltimore and eventually San Diego home. They both enjoyed volunteering, entertaining, and visiting friends and family.

Captain Bruyere is survived by brothers Joseph, Paul, Timothy and Matthew Donahue, a sister Lucia Donahue O’dwyer, stepsons Brett, Trent and TJ Bruyere, and ten grandchildren.

A funeral mass will be held at her parish Santa Rosa de Lima in Chula Vista and be announced in the near future. At a later date, once COVID-19 gathering restrictions are lifted, a burial with military honors will be at Miramar National Cemetery, San Diego. In lieu of flowers please send donations to The Parkinson’s Association of San Diego, www. parkinsonsassociation. org.

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