Kathy Cash papers, 1967-2006.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Organized by format;,Arranged generally in chronological order.

Audio letters home (digital),Organized alphabetically by file identifier assigned at time of conversion;,Arranged in original chronological order.

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Sound recordings of audio letters home are in two formats: original audiocassettes recorded 1973-1980; and a set of data CDs containing MP3 files, which were produced during a conversion project in 2006 and 2007. The contents of the two formats are identical.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Original audiocassette recordings of audio letters home are restricted to staff use only. This restriction does not apply to the oral history recorded in 2006.

Abstract: Photographs, slides (including briefings on health-related topics), audio letters home, and an oral history interview, documenting the Air Force careers of Kathy (Creager) Cash and her husband, Grady, from 1967 to 1995. Kathy was a nurse and later was instrumental in the health promotion field, and the majority of the materials in the collection document her work in these areas.

Scope and content: Snapshot photographs, mostly in color, document both Grady and Kathy Cash's military careers in the United States Air Force. Images date from 1967 when Grady was at the Air Force Academy to 1995 when Kathy retired, and are arranged in rough chronological order. Scenes include formal settings, such as parades and ceremonies, as well as casual off-duty images. Many images are of nurses and other medical personnel in a medical office setting. Other photographs show Grady and/or Kathy in social settings including parties, being tourists, or at their residence. Images include photographs taken the day of the Cash's wedding, in Turkey, a story that figures prominently in Kathy's oral history interview. Other notable subjects include scenes on base and vicinity at: Maxwell Air Force Base; Incirlik, Turkey; Lajes Field, Azores; and Carswell Air Force Base. Some images of parties are significant for the occasion - including a party based upon the popular television show, M*A*S*H* where people came as characters from the show; and a more formal affair held to mark the dissolution of Strategic Air Command. Photos from Kathy Cash's retirement ceremony in 1995 are also included.

Slides are housed in two volumes. The first volume contains briefings related to health and wellness, including preventative health care, smoking cessation, creating a healthy culture within the Air Force, proposals and data advocating for the formal creation of a health promotion clinic, and health as it relates to "Fitness for Readiness" for Strategic Air Command. The second volume of slides cover subjects similar to snapshots, including Grady at the Air Force Academy (1968-70); an air show, probably at Alamogordo, N.M.; and base and medical office scenes at the Azores, and Maxwell and Carswell Air Force Bases.

Sometimes accompanied by her husband, Grady, Kathy Cash sent audio letters home to her parents in Morton, Illinois while serving in the medical field of the U.S. Air Force from 1973 to 1980, during which time she and her husband were stationed in Turkey, Greece, and the Azores, and took trips to Italy, Crete, Egypt, Kenya, and other places. Originally recorded on 27 audio cassette tapes, the recordings were converted to digital .mp3 files in 2006-2007. Researchers must use the digital recordings; access to the original audiocassettes is restricted to staff use only.

Subjects discussed in the recordings include her work as a nurse, health teacher, and in other capacities on the medical staff of Air Force hospitals, especially in gynecological care, women's health, and teaching; daily life and life abroad among other cultures; excursions as a tourist and sightseeing; food; her and her husband's health; requests for items to be sent from the United States; treating casualties from a Venezuelan plane crash while stationed at the Azores; holidays; friends; Iranian evacuees; combating headlice; observing wildlife in Africa; teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and a wide variety of other subjects. A rough outline of subjects, as created by Kathy Cash or her family, and which can be used as an index to the recordings, is filed in Manuscripts. Researchers are advised to use the 2006 NPL-produced transcript of these notes for ease of use.

All of these original materials are supplemented by an oral history interview, conducted with Kathy Cash in 2006 by Nashville Public Library staff member, Linda Barnickel. In this interview, Cash tells about briefly working with returning prisoners of war from Vietnam. She speaks at length about her experiences in Turkey, where she was stationed during the Greek-Cypriot War. She tells of seeing the explosions of shells in the distance on Cypress and the atmosphere on base which was shared with the Turks at this time. She shares in great detail the many hurdles she and her husband had to overcome to get married in Turkey. She also tells about being stationed on the Azores, where the Army took care of the boats; the Navy flew planes; and the Air Force was responsible for the operations of the base on the ground. She tells about the crash of a Venezualan airliner while she was stationed in the Azores, and providing medical treatment to the crash survivors. Towards the conclusion of her interview, she tells about working in the health promotion field, where she was instrumental in developing health and wellness training which was adopted by the Surgeon General for use throughout all the armed forces

Cite as: Kathy Cash Papers, Other Conflicts or Peacetime Series, Veterans History Project Collection, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

Audio letters home,Copyright in audio letters home retained by donor until July 27, 2026, at which time copyright passes to the Nashville Public Library.

Photographs and slides,Copyright deeded to the Nashville Public Library at time of donation.

Oral history,Copyright deeded to Nashville Public Library at time of recording.

Audio letters home,Kathy K. Creager Cash;,Gift;,2006.,Acc. 2006.032.

Photographs and slides,Kathy K. Creager Cash;,Gift;,2008.,Acc. 2008.014.

Kathy K. Creager was born in 1951 in Macomb, Ill. and grew up in Morton, Ill. She attended nursing school. A year after receiving her associate's degree, she joined the Air Force. She trained at Maxwell Air Force Base, where for a time she worked with returning prisoners of war from Vietnam. Her first overseas assignment sent her to Incirlik, Turkey, in 1973, where she worked as an obstetrical nurse. She was there during the Greek-Cypriot War. Visible flares from bomb bursts on Cyprus and Turkish fighter planes coming and going on the base were commonplace. While in Turkey, she met and married Grady Cash. In 1976, the couple was assigned to Lajes Field in the Azores, and Kathy worked in both surgical and obstetrical nursing. While there, the base hospital was involved in recovery operations of casualties from a Venezulan airplane which crashed on the island during a hurricane. During her time overseas, Kathy and her husband were able to take frequent excursions to nearby countries, including Egypt, Kenya, and Italy. As her career progressed, Kathy began working in the health promotion field. She ran a research project on the operation of health and wellness centers, of which the lessons learned were adopted by the Surgeon General for use throughout all the armed forces. She provided orientation programs for the military, and wrote the first Air Force orientation manual for health promotion managers; it was still in use eight years after it was written. For the last six years of her military career, Kathy managed multiple base wellness programs for both the Strategic Air Command and Air Combat Command. In this capacity, she served on the board of directors for the Air Force Surgeon General providing recommendations on prevention issues. Since her retirement as a lieutenant colonel from the Air Force in 1995, she briefly worked for a Fortune 500 HMO in developing the first TRICARE prevention program. She went on to work in the health promotion field as a freelance writer and consultant.

James "Grady" Cash Jr. was born in 1947 in Gaffney, S.C. An Air Force Academy graduate, he went on to join the Air Force in 1969 and served through 1980, achieving the rank of Captain. Although Grady originally trained to become an Air Force pilot, he had to change career fields because of his vision. He transferred into the Personnel department and later into Social Actions which works directly for the base commander to address women's rights, race relations, and substance abuse issues. For the last year of his Air Force career, Grady was selected to train junior officers at the Air Force's Squadron Officers' School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Grady went on to become a certified financial planner. Grady, like his wife, has always been personally committed to healthy lifestyles and is a nationally ranked runner in the Masters' category. He has combined his fitness passion, his financial management background, and the writing and speaking skills he honed in the Air Force, and is the author of several books. Recognized as the "Father of Financial Wellness," Grady writes and speaks professionally.

In English

Veterans History Project finding aid available in repository;,item level control.

In possession of Kathy K. Creager Cash until time of donation to the Nashville Public Library.

Forms part of the Other Conflicts and Peacetime series of the Veterans History Project collection.

snapshots and slides,process;,2015;,Linda Barnickel.

audio letters home,process;,2007;,Linda Barnickel;,converted to digital format (.mp3 files) from original analog audiocassette tapes by an outside vendor, 2006-2007.

No further accruals are expected.