Kelly Fitzpatrick jumped out of airplanes for the U.S. Army before most women had the chance.

The Beaverton resident served 16 years in the Army, rising to the rank of major. She went on to become the first woman and first openly LGBTQ+ person to lead the Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs (ODVA), an agency founded in 1945. Now retired, she volunteers with Beaverton American Legion Post 124.

Fitzpatrick's story was profiled by the Beaverton Valley Times on Nov. 4, ahead of Veterans Day on Wednesday, Nov. 11.

"I was born into the military," Fitzpatrick told the Beaverton Valley Times. "I always said to myself I was going into the military in some way, shape, or form."

She joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps while studying journalism at Boston University. At a time when few opportunities existed for women in the military, she said, she attended Army Airborne School and learned to parachute.

She later received an offer to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After earning a graduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, Fitzpatrick became the first woman public affairs officer for the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. She deployed with her division to Kuwait.

Throughout her service, which ran from 1980 to 1996, the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy meant she could not be open about being gay. "I couldn't be out," she said. "I was ready for a full life and not have to hide."

After leaving the Army, Fitzpatrick earned a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. She helped establish the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, according to the Beaverton Valley Times, translating security information for Congress.

By 2015, Fitzpatrick and her wife, Joan, had moved west. She became the military and veteran constituent services representative for U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley. In that role, she fielded calls from veterans dealing with housing insecurity and health issues, according to the Statesman Journal.

Then-Gov. Kate Brown appointed Fitzpatrick as ODVA director. She held the role for about five years, according to the Beaverton Valley Times.

In a 2019 post on the state's My Oregon blog, Fitzpatrick said it had been "absolutely illegal to be openly gay during the entire period of my military service." She said she was honored to lead a state agency with a full-time LGBTQ+ veterans coordinator, a position Oregon created in 2016 as the first of its kind in the nation.

Fitzpatrick is now a member of a Portland military officers group and dedicates time to Beaverton American Legion Post 124, according to the Beaverton Valley Times.

Two Veterans Day ceremonies are scheduled for Nov. 11. The Washington County Veterans Day Celebration begins at 11 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Gateway near Westside Commons in Hillsboro. The statewide ceremony, organized by ODVA, starts at 11 a.m. on the Capitol Mall in Salem. Both events are free and open to the public.