June bacon bercey biography
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Bacon-Bercey, June –
Meteorologist
Chose Science Over Home Economics
More Than a Pretty Weather Girl
Encouraged Other Women and Minorities
Dedicated to Education
Selected writings
Sources
June Bacon-Bercey was the only African-American woman to earn a degree in meteorology in the s. She went on to become the first female television meteorologist in the country by assuming the position of weathercaster in Buffalo, New York, in Two years later she was honored as the first African American and the first woman to earn the American Meteorological Society&#x;s Seal of Approval for excellence in television weathercasting. Throughout her career, Bacon-Bercey spent time in government service, working for the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. Bacon-Bercey has worked in research, forecasting, weathercasting, and public affairs and has also been active in professional associations, including the American Meteorological Society Board on Women an
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THE FIRST FEMALE CHIEF METEOROLOGIST IN THE U.S.
June Bacon-Bercey was a barrier-breaking meteorologist who paved the way for women and minorities to make headway in the male dominated field. She attained several firsts during her time as a meteorologist including becoming the first African American broadcast meteorologist, the first female broadcast meteorologist and the first kvinnlig chief meteorologist in the U.S.
Bacon-Bercey is a native of Wichita, Kansas, born in She received her first degree in mathematics at Friends University of Wichita before moving to Los Angeles, California.
She went on to study meteorology at UCLA, and in , became the first Black woman to graduate with a meteorology degree from the school.
In the s, Bacon - Bercey went back to school to earn a journalism degree at NYU.
After graduating, she started as a science reporter at WGRZ in Buffalo, NY, and made her debut on the weather vägg in after the chief meteorologis
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June Bacon-Bercey, a pioneering meteorologist and passionate supporter of women and minorities in the sciences, was well versed in high-pressure fronts and absolute humidity. But it was her knowledge of the composer John Philip Sousa that catapulted her into the public eye in when she won $64, on a well-known television quiz show. Bacon-Bercey, who used part of her winnings to endow an AGU scholarship for women studying atmospheric sciences, passed away in July at the age of 90 from frontotemporal dementia.
Bacon-Bercey (née Griffin) grew up in Wichita, Kan., in the heart of Tornado Alley. The weather, stars, and planets all captivated the young Bacon-Bercey, said her daughter, Dail St. Claire. “She always called herself a nerd and a bookworm. She always asked why.”
There were no professional scientists in Bacon-Bercey’s immediate family, but she was surrounded by successful women. Her aunt Bessie, for example, was an entrepreneur who opened the first Black-owned beauty supply sch