Evelyn Honea’s journey as a Navy Spouse started in 1989 when she married her husband James, an E-1 stationed in Long Beach California. The Navy has stationed them in California, Oklahoma, Maryland, Virginia, Korea, Bahrain and Hawaii. Evelyn and her husband have two children, James who is twenty-nine and Sara who is twenty-four.

Over the years, Evelyn has held jobs in Childcare, real estate, dental and retail. Evelyn left Maryland in 2002 for California and was there for ten years, four duty stations, five deployments and an IA assignment to Afghanistan. For seven years, she owned and operated three retail businesses, which she sold when her husband was assigned to his first installation tour in Dahlgren Virginia.

Evelyn’s husband’s tours as Command Master Chief, or CMC, include USS Gridley, USS New Orleans, Naval Support Facilities Dahlgren, Virginia, Naval Forces Korea, United States 5TH Fleet, Bahrain and their current duty station Commander United States Pacific Fleet, Hawaii. During her spouse’s career, Evelyn has always felt that engagement and readiness are what helps families through the toughest of times. Her spouse’s position as a CMC has given her many opportunities to stay engaged and informed so that she could continue to give back to her community.

Evelyn attended the Command Master Chief Spouse Leadership Course in June of 2009 and has been able to return as a mentor on five occasions. She currently serves on the course’s Steering Committee and has also completed the Ombudsman Basic Training and Family Readiness Group Training. She continues to attend different training opportunities with her spouse and has recently participated in different working groups. The latest SLEC has contributed to Chief of Naval Operations recently released, Navy Family Framework. These courses and working groups give Evelyn the tools to support her Command, Leadership Spouses and Navy families at large.