Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest Senior Paralegal Specialist Kathy V. Lewis received the 2020 Peggy B. Craig Lifetime Service Award for 27 years of excellent service to the command as its senior Paralegal Specialist and Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Coordinator.

“Her selection is very well deserved and we are fortunate to have her on our team!” said NAVFAC Southwest Commanding Officer Capt. Mike Oestereicher in an email announcing her selection by NAVFAC headquarters.

Lewis is described as a civil servant with the attributes of a Servant Leader. She freely shares her knowledge and spends countless hours investing in the personal development and welfare of others. She supported dozens of attorneys, trained numerous junior support staff and registered over 1,100 employees as Confidential Financial Disclosure Report filers.

Coworkers called her a dedicated and devoted professional who assures the command receives outstanding legal advice, and a positive influence to all around her.

“She is the glue that holds the Counsel’s Office together – training its support staff and assisting its attorneys - while balancing the difficult tasks related to administering command-wide programs in FOIA, ethics and the Privacy Act,” said NAVFAC Southwest Counsel Susan Hulbert. “Ms. Lewis’s outstanding work, commitment to sharing her expertise, and inspired mentorship of so many junior staff ensures that her efforts will have long-lasting, positive and enduring impacts on the Civil Engineering and Seabee Community.”  

The Peggy B. Craig Lifetime Achievement Award is named for a former special assistant to the Chief of Civil Engineers. Peggy B. Craig served for 31 years as the Special Assistant to the Chief of Civil Engineers and supported 12 Chiefs of Civil Engineer Corps. Craig was known for an unmatched professional expertise. She was the gold standard for secretarial effectiveness across all echelons of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, and later, Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

“I am honored to be the recipient of the 2020 Peggy B. Craig Lifetime Service Award,” said Lewis. “The excitement I felt after hearing I had been selected was priceless. I am humbled to be thought of as someone as dedicated, hard-working and selfless as Peggy Craig. The mission has always been important to me. And, if I have helped any one person along the way, then my career has not been in vain.”

Nominees for the award must be current or retired civil servants with 20 years or more of service to NAVFAC, Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), the Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering (CSFE), or any subordinate units. 

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