Lenah S. Higbee, the first woman to receive the Navy Cross while still living, was born on 18 May 1874 at Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada. After completing nurses’ training at New York Postgraduate Hospital in 1899 and further training at Fordham Hospital, she engaged in private practice until entering the US Navy Nurse Corps on 1 October 1908. Widow of the late Lieutenant Colonel John Henley Higbee, USMC, Mrs. Higbee became Chief Nurse on 14 April 1909 and second commandant of the Nurse Corps on 20 January 1911. For her World War I service, she received the Navy Cross on 11 November 1920. Mrs. Higbee retired from the Nurse Corps on 30 November 1922 and died on 10 January 1941 at Winter Park, Florida. She is buried beside her husband at Arlington National Cemetery.
