Wilson's sister, Mary O'Donnell is a retired United States Coast Guard rear admiral, who in 2000 became the first woman to become a reserve rear admiral in the Coast Guard.[5][6] At the time of O'Donnell's retirement in 2004, Wilson and her sister were the highest ranking sisters in the United States Military.[3]
Military career
Commissioned a second lieutenant in November 1972, Wilson was the Honor Graduate and recipient of the Leadership Award from the United States Marine Corps Women Officer Basic School. As a company grade officer, Wilson served as an Air Traffic Control Officer at Yuma and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Stations and as an instructor at Marine Corps Development and Education Center's Instructional Management School. Following graduation from Amphibious Warfare School in 1980, she served as Staff Secretary, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Amphibious Force.
As a field grade officer, Wilson was a company officer, Brigade of Midshipmen, and an assistant professor in the Professional Development Department at the United States Naval Academy. After graduating with the 1985 class of the College of Naval Command and Staff, Naval War College, she reported to the Manpower Plans, Manpower and Reserve Affairs Department, Headquarters Marine Corps as a manpower management analyst. She then served as special assistant for general and flag officer matters, Joint Staff, and as executive assistant to the Vice Director, Joint Staff.
Wilson commanded the Fourth Recruit Training Battalion at Parris Island Recruit Depot from 1988 to 1990. She then participated in a Federal Executive Fellowship with the Brookings Institution before reporting to the Marine Forces Pacific staff as Requirements and Programs Officer. In July 1993, she assumed command of Camp H. M. Smith and the headquarters and services battalion, Marine Forces Pacific. Returning to Washington, D.C., in 1995, she participated on Roles and Missions Coordination Group, Requirements and Plans, Headquarters Marine Corps, before being assigned as secretary, Joint Staff.
From 2003 to 2006, Wilson served as commandant of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University. In 2006, she was appointed president of the National Defense University. On July 14, 2006, Wilson was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed her post as the 12th president of the university, succeeding United States Air Force Lieutenant General Michael M. Dunn.[7] In March 2009, she was awarded the French Legion of Honor in a ceremony presided by French Defense MinisterHervé Morin at the French embassy in Washington, D.C.[8] Wilson retired from active military service on September 1, 2009.
^ ab"College of Social Science". Commencement 1971(PDF). Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University. March 14, 1971. p. 42. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
^ abEng, Sherri (2004). "The End of an Era: First Woman Reserve Rear Admiral Mary P. O'Donnell Retires". The Reservist. 51 (7): 16–19. In 2000, O'Donnell broke ground when she became the first female admiral in Coast Guard Reserve history. O'Donnell and her younger sister, Frances C. Wilson, an active duty major general in the U.S. Marine Corps, are the highest ranking sister pair in the military. (p. 18).
