Mildred Helen McAfee Horton (12 May 1900 – 2 September 1994) was an American academic, educator, naval officer, and religious leader. She served during World War II as first director of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the United States Navy. She was the first woman commissioned in the U.S. Navy Reserve and the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. In addition to her distinguished military service, McAfee was also the seventh president of Wellesley College. She was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and was co-chair of President John F. Kennedy's Women's Committee for Civil Rights. As a pioneer for women's roles in the mid 20th Century, McAfee was the first woman to serve on the boards of New York Life Insurance, the New York Public Library, and RCA. She was the first woman chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of New Hampshire. As all of her work was compelled by her faith, she was first woman president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the first woman vice-president of the Federal Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. Early life Mildred Helen McAfee was born in Parkville, Missouri, the daughter of the Rev. Cleland Boyd McAfee and Harriet Brown. Her Presbyterian family emphasized and helped to nurture a strong faith and a high expectation of achievement which influenced her religious work later on. She graduated from Vassar College in 1920 and received her master's degree in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1928. She briefly taught at Tusculum College (now Tusculum University). McAfee was the dean of women at Centre College in 1926 before becoming dean of women at Oberlin College two years later. In 1936 she became president of Wellesley College at the age of 36, making her one of the country's youngest college presidents. McAfee retired from her position as President of Wellesley College in 1948. McAfee is unique in the history of women leaders in the church, since she was already a young adult before the Presbyterian Church began ordaining women as elders. In fact, she had already served as vice-president of the National Council of Churches for a number of years before the first woman was ordained in the U.S. Presbyterian Church in 1956. Unlike her female contemporaries, McAfee's significance to the