Elainne Etter Emerson

October 1926 - June 2010

Elainne took training at the Alexandria Hospital School of Nursing in Alexandria, Virginia.  She traveled from her hometown of Waynesboro, Pa. in 1944 and graduated in 1946.  She stayed in Alexandria where she worked in the hospital ER and married, of all people, a fireman.  She started a family of 3 in 1949 and remained in nursing for 35 years.  Elaine also volunteered in the Alexandria Fire Dept. Ladies Auxiliary which was made up of many different talents.  The nurses' focus at that time was to provide emergency care "on scene", triage, support for hospital staff called to the incident and rehab for the firemen.  They provided training to the firefighters at a time when basic first aid was the only thing available.  Many of the ladies who graduated after the war, weren't afforded the opportunity to serve in forward theaters,  continued with a purpose, their chosen vocation.