Helen Shaddock Rockwell papers

Helen Shaddock graduated from the University of Rochester in 1937. Before the war she worked at St. Paul's Episcopal Church as Secretary of Religious Education and at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Shaddock joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) in July 1943. The WAVES trained to perform secretarial and clerical functions for the United States Navy in order to free more men to fight in the war. Shaddock attended Midshipmen's School at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts (July 31- September 21, 1943) then the U.S. Naval Communications School at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts (September 23- November 16, 1943). Shaddock's first assignment was in Miami, Florida (November 22, 1943- August 10, 1944) as a courier for both the Seventh Naval District and the Gulf Sea Frontier Headquarters. As a courier in Miami, Shaddock would receive messages from the code room, sealed in an envelope. She would then, "strap on a .38 revolver, call for a jeep, sign for the messages and be off" to the Port Authority, the Coast Guard Station, and other facilities. Port Authority messages were usually orders to a specific sub-chaser that an unknown sub was in the area. More than once Shaddock had to go on board a ship to deliver its sailing orders. In August 1944 Shaddock received orders to go to Washington, DC, where she worked in Postal Affairs. In this position she notified Postal Operations of the location of all ships in the Atlantic. Shaddock returned to Rochester after the war and worked as Supervisor of Office Services for Distillation Products, an Eastman Kodak Company. She married Rev. James A. Rockwell in February of 1965. The papers consist of Shaddock's letters during her time in the WAVES to her mother in Rochester and her transcriptions of the letters. The collection also includes a photo album and various miscellaneous items about the WAVES. Mrs. Rockwell donated the papers to the University in 2005.