Phyllis Fitzgerald is a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a Big Red One Veteran, Mayor of Junction City – and friend to all.
Fitzgerald was the guest speaker for the Fort Riley Women’s History Month observance on March 15th – a role that couldn’t have been more befitting. Her speech focused on women throughout the decades in the workforce and labor movements for equality.
“For women that are in the workforce today, those pioneers [from the past] worked hard in challenging the inequalities in the workplace of lower wages, poor working conditions and limited opportunities, and they fought to make the workplace less hostile for women,” said Fitzgerald who dealt with struggles as being a female leader in a previous work position.
“I can relate to the struggles of being that only female leader, the interaction was substantially different between male and female leaders…I’m not going to tell you that it was an easy road to get where I am today,” said Fitzgerald.
Paying homage to women like Lily Ledbetter, Madeline Albright and women in the Flint Hills communities (audio below), Fitzgerald reminded those in attendance that comradary and teamwork have always been to the benefit of women throughout history.
“Our military women have done so much and have broken through so many barriers along the way, all done with great pride and determination,” said Fitzgerald.
A woman born in Nashville, Tennessee with a southern sense of friendship and community has made Junction City her forever home after retiring from the military in 1999.
“I came from a country poor family, we lived in the projects for several years; my mother had a welfare lady that wanted to take me out of the home because she had found a family that wanted to adopt a little girl – but my mother refused to let that happen,” said Fitzgerald who was the only one of her siblings to graduate high school.
After joining the military at 17, Fitzgerald was called to “be all that she could be.”
“I applied for warrant officer school and was accepted into that program and retired after 23 years as an Intelligence Warrant Officer; I deployed to Desert Storm with the First Infantry Division all while raising a family, I wanted to have a career and be an example for my son and my daughter,” said Fitzgerald.
Both of her children served in the United States Airforce; her son a Veteran, and her daughter an active duty Captain.
Throughout her speech, Fitzgerald reminded us that obstacles are placed before us all – and yes, women have had a few extra barriers to break through, but with a little courage and fight in your spirit, no dream is out of reach.
“I never look at [my own accomplishments], I look at the great things that other people are doing…somewhere along the lines growing up, I must have had someone or something that was introduced to me that really put that drive into me to make me want to be something in life – you know, do something good,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald currently serves as Mayor of Junction City, and works full time at the Mission Training Complex on Fort Riley. In her spare time, she campaigns for the beautification of Junction City leading cleanup efforts on the weekends.