Louise Virginia Lomax was born on January 27, 1920 to James and Annie Shepperson Lomax. Her hometown was Nottoway County, Virginia. She graduated from a Presbyterian boarding school, Ingleside-Fee Memorial School, in Burkeville, Virginia in 1938. She later attended St. Philip School of Nursing in Richmond, Virginia where she graduated in 1942. Later, she also took courses at DePaul University in Chicago, Western Michigan College, Lake Forest College, Catholic University and the University of Maryland. Initially, this registered nurse, had difficulty enlisting into the Army Nurse Corps. However, with the help of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, she went into active duty as a second lieutenant on March 30, 1943. She was a medical nurse at TAAF. By 1946, she had been promoted to first lieutenant. She was one of the last five nurses remaining on the Tuskegee Army Air base after it was designated for closing as reported in the roster for July 15, 1946. She later was transferred to Lockbourne Army Air Base in Ohio. She was honorably discharged from active service on March 8, 1949 and from the reserves on April 1, 1953. She also worked at Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek Michigan, Provident Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and Veterans Administration Hospitals in Downey, Illinois, and Perry Point, Maryland. As a civilian, she worked at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. as a psychiatric nurse until her retirement on June 29, 1973. She was married to a Methodist minister, John Lonnie Winters, on November 28, 1954. She was the mother of one child, Pia Marie Winters. She died on April 1, 2011. A memorial scholarship is in her name is at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia School of Nursing. One nurse who worked with Lomax when she was transferred to LAAB said, “Her smile could light up a room.” (TAAF Hospital rosters, Dozier nurse newsletter from Lockbourne Army Air Base, 1947, Women in Military Service for America Memorial register, government documents, Daughter, Pia Winters Jordan)

Thank you to Pia Winters Jordan, Project Director of the Tuskegee Airmen Nurses Project, for sharing with us the incredible legacy of nurses who served alongside the Airmen. We are honored to feature their history and  stories. 

Be sure to visit Tuskegee Airmen Nurses Project for more information!