EL DORADO, Ark. (KTVE/KARD) — It’s International Women’s Day and the El Dorado Rotary Club is celebrating the occasion by hearing about the life of Raye Montague.
The club met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday afternoon through Zoom. This month’s guest speakers included Dr. David Montague and Paige Bowers.
Dr. Montague is the son of Raye Montague, the woman who broke barriers for African Americans and for women in engineering.
She was the first female program manager of ships in the United States Navy and revolutionized how the country designed naval warships.
A typical hand-written design would haven taken close to nearly two years to establish but Montague developed a code that would design a ship in 18 hours.
Being a black woman, Montague was deemed unqualified to be an engineer even though she had this dream at the young age of 7.
Despite the obstacles, she believed she could do anything she set her mind to do. Some of the ships she was instrumental in designing are still in service today.
“She thought her story didn’t matter but it absolutely did and today is international women’s day and what better way to celebrate David’s mother and her contributions to engineering and the community,” Co-Author of Overnight Code: The Life of Raye Montague, Paige Bowers said.
Dr. Montague and Bowers are writing a book titled: Overnight Code – The Life of Raye Montague, the Woman Who Revolutionized Naval Engineering. It will include an insightful look into Montague’s journey to fame and her impact on communities across the nations.
Montague died in 2018.
