The FY-17 CPO Selectees from NOSC Orlando paid a visit to Ima Black, the wife of the late Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Delbert Black, July 30 at her home in Winter Park, Florida.

Black, a Pearl Harbor survivor from Orr, Oklahoma, was the very first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy and served as MCPON from 1967 to 1971. He and Ima were married 50 years prior to his death in March 2000.

During their visit, she spoke with the Selectees about her husband and their Navy careers. During World War II, Mrs. Black served as a Navy WAVE, or Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, and rose to the rank of first class petty officer. She and Black met after the war.

"It's wonderful to meet with the new selectees," she said. "I tell them about my time in the Navy and my time as the wife of the first MCPON and they bring me up to date about the Navy today."

Last month Mrs. Black, 95, was presented a ceremonial keel plate by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The company is building the guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black, the first U.S Navy ship to be named after a Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.