Military Spotlight: Kay Khrone Knows Only Navy Life

By Linda L. Austin

Kay Khrone is immersed in the Navy life, starting with her father, Captain Quinn, who began Saturdays with the white glove inspection of her bedroom looking for a dust spot she may have missed. After a circuitous route, she joined the Navy, married Ted Khrone, and raised two sons who were in the Navy. One room of her Coronado home is decorated with each wall dedicated to the plaques and awards of the four Khrones.

As a child, she looked at the moves as, “Well, I thought it was an adventure, meeting new people.” The family lived in Japan, Hawaii, Washington, DC, and she graduated from Granby High School in Norfolk, VA.

Khrone retained her outlook through her college years starting at George Washington University before the family moved to Hawaii. “And at the last minute, I said, “Oh, well, maybe I need to go, and so I went with them across country. We took the SS Lurline to Hawaii. Yes, the five-day luxury cruise back then. That’s how they got you there if you were a senior officer. My dad by then was a captain, and that was great. Then I spent a semester at the University of Hawaii. I came back and graduated from George Washington, all in four years.” Her degree was in drama.

From college, she joined the family in Boston and “got a great job as a cocktail waitress in Framingham, Mass. And I was very happy doing that because I was making good money, and… I had a lot of social contacts. All was good.”

Not so good with Dad, however, who reminded her with the waitress job, “You haven’t picked a career with much upward mobility.” Not wanting to be under the influence of her father, she decided to join the Air Force, but when the date to report arrived, she was informed that the class was

full. With her mind geared to go military, she switched to the Navy who had an immediate opening.

Khrone has funny stories about her start in the Navy. When she saw her first room, sparse with a bunk bed, “My mother comes in to see it and she says, ‘Oh look, don’t worry. I’ll make matching bedspreads and curtains, and it’ll be fine,’ and my dad just starts laughing. So I said, ‘What’s so funny?’ And he said, ‘You’ll find out.’ And I did.”

She found out that it was going to be tough, not home. Khrone experienced the unenthusiastic acceptance of women in the military. Her designation was General Unrestricted Line Officer, the only position open to women at that time. Sometimes she had to use persuasion to secure the assignment she needed to advance, except for her first assignment. “My first duty station was the Pentagon. I was in public affairs and only later came to find out that my dad had had a hand in that because he knew the Admiral who was at that time CHINFO, which stands for Chief of Information… I really didn’t want to be under his thumb, with him orchestrating my career, so I got a split tour to Pensacola, and I worked for the Chief of Naval Air Training as one of the lowly PAO’s (Public Affairs Officers) there. And I loved it. I loved the aviation world. I loved being stationed at the home of the Blue Angels.”

From there, she got orders to VS 41, an anti-submarine aircraft squadron at North Island where she met and married Ted. “I wanted to be the personnel officer after having been the communications officer and educational services officer and all these other things, and I wanted a better job. So I asked the commanding officer about putting me in as the personnel officer. And he said, ‘Well, Kay, you know, we can’t give that. That’s a good job that we have to save for the aviators.’”

Thus began the diplomatic persuasion to secure the job she wanted. “‘Well, Sir, you know, I am not an aviator, so that means I’m here all of the time, which means I could handle all of the personnel issues anytime they needed to be handled. So could you just give it to me for six months for just a trial to see or three months even. And if I don’t do a good job, then take me out.’ He finally acquiesced, and I got the good job.”

Her moving around came to a stop as the family grew with the arrival of Kris and Karl. With some planning and lobbying, she remained in the San Diego area except for one assignment. Since their wedding day, the family has lived in the same home in Coronado.

That one assignment, to the Royal Navy Staff College, was a highlight of her career. “I happened to be a first. They had never sent an American woman before, and when I got there, I found out I was the only woman on the course because… there was one WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service) in the class with me, and she dropped out. So that left me as the only woman.”

As a mother, Khrone felt she could not accept the honor; however, her husband convinced her that she would regret not going. “We had a full-time live-in housekeeper for 18 years, same gal, and that made it all possible. Everybody went over together… to get me to the Royal Navy Staff College.” She visited the family at Christmas and completed the seven-month course a few months later.

Many other memorable assignments followed. “I loved being the Executive Officer of the (San Diego) Recruiting District. I honestly must say that’s my favorite tour because we won the Unit Commendation. While I was executive officer, that commanding officer who didn’t want me in the beginning, ended up writing me such a glowing recommendation that I got the Royal Navy Staff College. He mentored me and wrote me up for the Meritorious Service Medal.”

Another prestigious assignment was as Commanding Officer of the Personnel Support Activity at the Naval Training center. “That was one of the only commanding officer jobs that a woman could have.”

The Navy allowed her time off to get her MBA from Southern Illinois University. “When I was the Executive Officer of the NROTC unit (stationed at USD), I started my doctorate, and then I retired (1989), and I was able to finish my doctorate after that in leadership.” In retirement Khrone started her own business, training in executive leadership which “morphed into American Management Association. I did a course for them called Developing Executive Leadership and later on I did a rewrite for the American Management Association.”

While Khrone enjoys her pet Sandy and having play dates with other dogs and owners in her backyard, playing Bridge, and reading, she and Ted devote time to honoring their older son Kris who died in a plane crash while on exchange duty with the Air Force. Kris Khrone and Captain

Quinn were inducted into the Avenue of Heroes in the same group. The Khrones present a Spirit Sword, a sword required for dress uniforms in the Marines and Navy, to outstanding NROTC graduates at George Washington University and USD and a scholarship at USD in memory of Kris. A bench near their home above the Yacht Club also has a plaque in his memory.

Karl spent six years in the Navy as an enlisted Fire Control Man after which he got his MA in computer science. He recently got his second MA in cyber security.

Khrone’s biggest challenge in the Navy “…was always trying to get the job that I wanted, and there were several times when I had to go to extreme lengths to get that.”

She did get the jobs, had a stellar career while experiencing the progress women have made in the military, and all of that while maintaining the wife and mother roles. Her “Yes, I can do this” outlook on life served her well.