June Bacon-Bercey was the first African-American woman to earn a degree in meteorology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1955, but that was only the beginning of the legacy her name still carries today.
Raised in Wichita, Kansas, Bercey became fascinated with science and math early on. Her daughter, Dail St. Claire, who lives to share her story, says that the destruction and devastation from atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is what propelled her mother, a young girl at the time, to pursue a career in science.
"She's always been interested in science and math so this was a natural question for her," St. Claire said.
That question would be what effects the atomic bomb would have on the atmosphere. Following high school, Bercey majored in math with honors at Friends University in Kansas. She then transferred to UCLA, one of the few colleges at the time offering a four-year degree in atmospheric science.
“The first thing her advisor said to her was this is not the career path for you, you should focus in home economics,” she said.
June went through the semester ultimately earning an "A" in thermodynamics and a "B" in home economics, proving this was only the start of overcoming challenges thrown her way.
She went on to work at NOAA and the Atomic Energy Commission, but her big break in television came unexpectedly.
“The chief meteorologist robbed a bank in the early afternoon and WGR needed a meteorologist to do the evening news,” St. Claire said.
Around the same time, she made national news with her coverage of the Attica prison uprising of 1971.
By 1972, June Bacon-Bercey was recognized by the American Meteorological Society with its "seal of approval" for excellence in TV weather forecasting, the first woman and African-American to earn that award.
Her career continued to flourish and as years went on, her passion turned towards helping others pave their own way of success.
"She funded the June Bacon-Bercey scholarship for women and the meteorology lab at Jackson state university. And you would know Jackson State is now the largest university to graduate the most amount of Black American meteorologists,” she said.
St. Clair went on to say her mother never really retired. Among many more accomplishments, she later became a teacher, working well into her 80s. She passed away in the summer of 2019.
“I would like my mom to be remembered as a mother, and a meteorologist, who never gave up in realizing she could achieve that goal and pave the path for others," she said.
