U.S. postage stamp features alumna

Not many are chosen to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. One who has that honor and distinction is alumna Theressa Barrett, SPCH 1989.

“Bear,” as she was known in her SPCH days, serves in the Air Force. From 1993-2000, while at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., she served two remote tours, one to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (post Desert Storm), and a year remote to the Republic of South Korea.

Theressa was involved with a presidential inauguration and was a model for a postage stamp issued in 1997. Featured on the stamp are women from the five branches of the military. Theressa is the first one on the right.

Theressa is a charter member of the Women in Military Service for American Memorial. She was involved with the memorial from groundbreaking in 1995 to dedication in 1997. At the ground breaking she handed out the silver plated shovels to the women who actually “broke ground.”

Theressa attended and eventually led women’s history tours, sponsored by Andrews Air Force Base, to local schools. She and other military service women explained their jobs as helicopter pilots, police officers, and providing presidential support. In October 1997 she was selected by General Wilma Vaught for a CNN interview about the memorial.