US Navy, 1980 – 1992

Cindy Anne Louise Rainey was born on July 24, 1959, in San Marcos, Calif., to William P. Rainey, Sr. and Billie Louise Rainey. Anne’s mother sadly died when Anne was four, causing her father to assume the role of single parent – a unique and rare role for men in the early 1960’s. Anne attended Charter Oak High School in Covina, Calif., where she was the only female Explorer Scout at the Covina Fire Department. She also traveled and performed with the a cappella choir for four years. When not on the road or at the fire department, Anne was a Candy Striper at San Dimas Hospital. After she graduated from high school in June 1977, she accepted a job as Nurse’s Aide on swing shift at San Dimas Hospital. She finished her swing shift with just enough time to get to the local Denny’s Restaurant where she worked the midnight shift as a waitress.

Anne’s family has a proud history of military service. Her grandfather served in World War I, her father in World War II, and her brother, William, during Vietnam. After three years of working two jobs, she decided to follow in their footsteps and joined the Navy Delayed Enlisted Program in February 1980. She left for bootcamp in Orlando, Fla., the following month.

After bootcamp, Anne headed to Naval Training Center (NTC) San Diego for Mess Management Specialist (MS) “A” School. She remained in San Diego for the next two years, working alternately at sboth the NTC and Recruit Training Command galleys. In early 1982 Anne, now an MS3, was sent to MS “C” school, Baking and Decorating school, MS Records school, and Leadership, Management, Education, and Training school in preparation for overseas duty. She departed in July for Naval Communications Station Harrold E. Holt, Australia, where she was promoted to MS2. In October 1984 she left the north-west coast of Australia to return to San Diego for duty onboard USS DIXON (AS-37), homeported at Port Loma. Her next set of orders took her across the bay to Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. While there, she made MS1, and in August 1986, she and her first husband welcomed their daughter, Tiffany. In 1989, Anne accepted orders to Patrol Squadron 17 (VP-17), a P-3 squadron based onboard Naval Air Station (NAS) Barbers Point in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. While there she deployed to NAS Adak, Alaska and to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, located in the Indian Ocean.

During her deployment to Diego Garcia in 1991, Anne married Jim Day, another VP sailor who she had been dating since shortly after she arrived in Hawaii. Upon return to Hawaii, they successfully merged their two families. The following year Jim was offered orders to NAS Millington, but in the early 1990’s, getting spousal co-location orders was not easy, so Anne put her family ahead of her career and accepted an honorable discharge in 1992. Once they arrived in Millington, Anne joined the reserves and was stationed with Patrol Squadron 67 (VP-67) until it was decommissioned. She returned to the healthcare profession and worked as a medical assistant for twenty-nine years before retiring in 2021. From 1992 to 2004 she was a Girl Scout leader, guiding many of the girls from Brownies through Seniors and dealing with more cookies than she dared to count.

For her service to our country, Anne was awarded Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Gold Star, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Navy Good Conduct Medal with two Bronze Stars, National Defense Service Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal with Bronze Star, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon, and Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation with letter “O”.

Anne and Jim have lived in Tipton County since 1992. In addition to their three children, they are the proud grandparents of grandson, Conner, and granddaughters, Nora and Madyson. Anne is the Commander of the Tipton County Ray Pinner Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 4840, the first woman to command a VFW Post in West Tennessee. She is the treasurer for the Tipton County Veterans Council and past treasurer for the Military Women Across the Nation, Memphis Belles Unit 151. She was nominated for Veteran of the Month by her friend, Kathy Desjarlais.