Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
``If you keep on going, you don't think old,'' Fielden told a reporter in 1993. ``You can be 90 and think 30.''
Fielden, 96, died Wednesday at the Virginia Veterans Care Center in Salem.
Determined to retain an active approach to life, she read 10 books a month even after having surgery to correct vision problems caused by cataracts.
Entering the Navy at the age of 20, Fielden and her friends figured it was one way to enjoy world travels they would otherwise miss.
She joined 25 other women in a secretarial pool in Norfolk. She was one of 100 Virginia women who served in the military during World War I. It was the first time that enlisted women were recruited.
For the war, Fielden left behind a strict family life where she and her sisters were allowed to date only in pairs. Curfew was 10 p.m.
Life in the military was more relaxed; but not by much.
Dances were held on ships, and women had to go with a female chaperone.
``Back then people didn't dance,'' she had said, ``I felt a little guilty most of the time.''
by CNB