ORLANDO | As we conclude our commitment to honor veterans this week, Florida Catholic shares the stories of three women who served their country and continue to serve their brothers and sisters by living out their faith.

LT. COL. RORY MILLER

1971-1995

Rory Miller enlisted in the Army right out of college. She recalled being “22 going on 16.” As a nurse practitioner for the Army Nurse Corps, her first assignment was caring for amputees. The work was stressful, so when they offered her a chance to work with children, she jumped at the opportunity.

Although the neo-natal ICU was equally intense, she recalled, “I just clicked with the babies.” From then on, whether she served at Tripler Army Medical in Honolulu, Ft. Meade, Ft. Hood or Ft. Bragg, she served in pediatrics, caring for the children of those serving their country.

Although retired, when 9/11 occurred, Miller applied to re-enlist. It wasn’t until years later, at age 60, she was asked to serve in Ft. Bragg and fill in for a pediatrician deployed to Afghanistan.

Miller was raised Catholic and attended an all-girl Catholic school. But she believes being far away from home at such a young age contributed to her falling away from the faith.

“I went (to Mass) occasionally and thought I was doing okay until I realized I wasn’t,” said Miller. But God continued to pursue her.

She met her husband, Kent, in the military and both actively served for years. He, too, was Catholic and together they slowly found their way back to the roots of their faith.

Three years ago, they arrived at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in St. Cloud and found a welcoming community and plenty of opportunities to serve the needy in their surrounding community. Miller helps feed the homeless through Elmer’s Kitchen, an ecumenical outreach organization. She and Kent also manage the parish’s food pantry. Together they help distribute pantry food to the local transition center for the homeless and newly released from prison. They also take baby food to Teen Moms for Life.

She loves the community and says, “That’s what’s gotten us back to being the Catholics we should be.”

Throughout the year, she and Kent honor veterans by hanging flags throughout their neighborhood, replacing them when worn. It is their small nod to those who serve.

LT. COL. SHARON BRANCH

1976-2002

Sharon Branch began Junior ROTC in college. That’s where she met her husband, John, who served in Vietnam. He returned to the states for more training and considered reenlisting.

After college, she wanted to further her education and attended a “summer camp” to see what the military was like. She had no interest until she took an “incentive ride”.

“It totally changed my thought process,” she said. “It gave me a bigger picture and understanding of what the organization was – that it was there to defend our nation, and we were going to work as a team with the same objectives. It gave me that anchor.”

Sharon joined the Air Force, but didn’t intend to stay long. Each time she was offered re-enlistment, she and John prayed over the assignment.

“Looking back, I know that every time I moved, every time I had a new challenge, God was there with me because it wasn’t my plan,” she added.

John became a stay-at-home father taking care of their daughter, Keri, while Sharon served in administration as an executive officer to an admiral and other senior officers.

She served as a Squadron Commander in El Segundo, California, and later in Montgomery, Alabama, at Maxwell Air Force Base.

“God was putting me in the right place at the right time. It was a rewarding career,” she said. She had flown in an Army helicopter, had spent time on a naval submarine, and had even lived in a tent city in Honduras. “Things you would not do in a day-to-day 9 to 5 job, which made it special for me,” she said.

She remembered first joining and rarely encountering another woman on base. Soon after, more women were recruited, and she became the advisor to the commander at Patrick Air Force Base on women’s issues.

“My aspiration was full colonel,” she said. “It’s a little more pay. It has more prestige. But it’s competitive and I was quite disappointed when I didn’t get picked.”

She came to Orlando with her husband in 2002. But John suffered a heart attack and died three years later. She said it wasn’t the first time God reminded her that it wasn’t all about her. There was a bigger picture.

At the time her husband passed her parents were alive and her daughter had moved to the area.

“God just put me in the right place, because that was a true loss and He gave me all of the family to support me,” she said. “Had I been promoted, we would have been somewhere else, and I would have been alone, without any support. Looking back, I think it all worked out as it was supposed to.”

Today, Sharon serves the Respect Life Ministry at Holy Family Parish in Orlando and works to fight human trafficking. She also serves as a sacristan, usher, and facilitator for studies at the parish.

“Even though, at the time, I didn’t really say yes to serve (in the military) altruistically, I believe through my thought process and my growth in my maturity, I realized this is bigger than me. This is something so important I wanted to give it everything I could. And I am proud to say I did everything I could do to the best of my ability, with God’s help. None of it was through my own doing,” she said.

COL. JOAN CAMPANARO

1979-2008

Asked why she joined the Army, Joan Campanaro laughed heartily and said, “Nothing attracted me to the military. It was a way to do nursing for three years and getting good clinical experience.”

She had earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing and worked in a woman’s maximum- security prison as a night nurse. She felt she needed more skills, so she applied to the Army. She was assigned to Westpoint Academy in New York, 13 miles from home. Two years in, she was offered to go to Korea. Intrigued by the opportunity to have a unique cultural experience and see some of the world, she agreed.

Eventually she was sent to San Francisco and earned a master’s degree.

“I fell in love with the concept that, not only was nursing a service and my way of doing ministry to people, but I could do that ministry for people willing to put their lives in harm’s way for our country,” she said. “That put a whole new light on what I was doing. It’s what really kept me in the military. The more I saw these young people’s dedication to do whatever was asked of them for their country, I thought how can I turn my back on them and not give them nursing care when they need it.”

Campanaro is a cradle Catholic whose faith experience had ups and downs. But a turning point came during her deployment to Iraq in 1991.

“My first day someone handed me a rosary. I was never a person to pray the rosary, but that rosary is what helped me sleep at night,” she said. “It was always on my body. At that point my faith really started to deepen as a practicing Catholic.”

She spent four and a half months serving in the Gulf War during Desert Storm. “In addition to wounded soldiers, we were getting wounded children and innocent civilians — women and children. My rosary was always in my pocket, and I spoke to God. I knew God was certainly walking beside me,” she said.

Her unit did not have a Catholic chaplain. But fellow Catholics held small gatherings where they strengthened and supported one another. “We went to the chaplain’s Christian service, but never had a Catholic Mass,” she recalled.

The Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner from Daytona Beach believes her military service was an extension of the foundations of Catholic Social Teachings. It holds tenets she lived out as a nurse in the Army, and while serving many parishes where she lived from Washington state to Alabama.

Today she participates in the social justice organization, F.A.I.T.H., where she offers her time as the chair of the Committee on Homelessness. She helped get the First Step Shelter approved and still serves on its board.

“As a veteran, I am saddened by how divided our country is. To me, being a Catholic is love. Being a Christian is love,” she said. “That’s how I treated my soldiers, people who worked with and for me. It’s all about treating them with dignity, respect and love. We need to get back there. I am in a position to help others, and I feel that is my calling in life, and how I live out Catholic Social Teachings.”

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, November 14, 2024