Deborah Luethje Mariya, Luverne High School Class of 1971, was honored on May 21 for her service as a Navy chaplain at a ceremony in Coronado, California.
The city of Coronado raised a banner bearing her picture and acknowledging her wartime service in Operation Desert Storm. It will be publicly displayed on Fourth Street for six months following Memorial Day.
The Hometown Banner Program was established to recognize current and former residents of Coronado for distinguished military service. Veterans are selected for the honor based on their notable military contributions to the nation.
Reverend Doctor Deborah Luethje Mariya, holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy, was selected for the XIV group of honorees. She was called to ministry at an early age, and following mission work in Brazil, she graduated from Augustana University and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
After seminary she was ordained as clergy of the United Methodist Church and for 10 years pastored churches in Iowa. During this time she joined the United States Naval Reserve.
She was called to active duty in 1990 immediately prior to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm as command chaplain of USS Cape Cod (AD-43), deploying to the Persian Gulf.
Traveling by helicopter, she conducted divine services and counseling throughout the Fleet at sea and ashore in the theater of operations.
Chaplain Mariya made a second deployment to the Persian Gulf and then was assigned to National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, where she was, among other duties, chaplain of the oncology ward and conducted Protestant divine services.