Kathleen Powell grew up in Williamston, South Carolina. After graduating high school in 1938 she started working for the Town Clerk and Treasurer. When the war began, she was elected to take over as Town Clerk and was the first woman to hold this position. As the war progressed she wanted to get more involved with the war effort and started working in the office of an Airbase nearby. Her husband Ken Powell served in the Air Force and talks about the enormous contribution made by women during the war; he even had to parachute out of his plane using the same materials that made woman’s nylon stockings.