AFRH-W Veteran Highlight – Emmy Lu Daly
By Christine Baldwin | Librarian

Emmy Lu Daly was born in Minnesota during the Depression. In high school, she enjoyed singing, dancing and acting. After graduating, she enrolled in a drama school in Chicago, Illinois to learn to become a professional actress. The year was 1941. World War II started and the whole country became involved. Emmy Lu quit school. She flew to North Hollywood and applied for a job at Lockheed Aircraft and joined the “Rosie the Riveter” crew working on fighter planes. She decided she wanted to be more involved in the war effort and so she joined the U.S. Navy through the WAVES - “Women’s Auxiliary Volunteer Emergency Service.” Basic training was at Hunter College in New York City, Yeoman training was in Cedar Falls, Iowa and then Emmy Lu was stationed at Clearfield, Utah. During the next two years Emmy Lu drove a jitney around a huge warehouse, picking up various parts needed to build and repair ships. She was sorry that she never got to see an ocean or a ship!

The war ended and Emmy Lu took advantage of the GI bill and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. She moved to Washington D.C., worked as an insurance agent, married and had two children. She pursued her love of acting in a community theater.

Prior to moving to the Armed Forces Retirement Home, Emmy Lu lived in an apartment in Washington, D.C. for 21 years with her cats. The building was being gutted and it would be two years before she could move back. She considers herself, at age 95, very fortunate to have been accepted at the AFRH-W and takes advantage of the rich life offered. Recently, fellow resident Joe Nesnow and Emmy Lu presented a two act play reading called “Love Letters.” Emmy Lu has been a resident of the home for one and a half years.