We Remember

July 19, 1926 - November 13, 2017

Julia's daughter reports: 

Julia Steuart Rollins was my mother. She attended Union Protestant Hospital Nursing School from 1943 to 1946.

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April 23, 1926 - July 28, 2020

Phariss, Nellie Mildred (Drye), 94, of Lakewood, Colorado, passed away at The Lakewood Reserve, her recent home, on July 28, 2020.  She was born April 23, 1926 to Dovie and Wallace Drye on the Wilson farm northwest of Crescent, Oklahoma.  She was the oldest of four children (Jimmy, Ila Faye and Victor).  She married Lloyd Murray Phariss on September 2, 1949, whom she met on a blind date set up by her nursing school roommate.  The engagement party arranged by her nursing school friends included telling her to hurry home from a date with Lloyd because her best friend was very sick and the rest of them didn’t know what to do.  When she rushed to the bedside, she found the blanket to be covering all of their engagement gifts with many giggling nurses nearby to turn the event into a party.

Nellie graduated from Crescent High School and went on to graduate with a B.S. from the School of Nursing, University of Oklahoma, in 1947.   Before nursing school, she worked for one year at Tinker Field in Midwest City as a counting specialist.  She was a member of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II.  She fulfilled the Cadet Nurses pledge by serving in the iron lung ward at University of Oklahoma Hospital.  She was one of the first nurses trained to treat patients using an iron lung in Oklahoma.  Her academic program was to complete four years of coursework in three years while working full-time at the hospital.  It was grueling work that she loved.  Nellie utilized her nurse training to rehabilitate polio victims during the devastating epidemic, including her younger brother.  She hot-packed his leg on schedule to save partial use of his leg for the remainder of his life.

She was proud of helping many as a nurse and she worked as a nurse until retirement in 1983.  Among her positions over the years, her favorites were working on the boy’s ward at the Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City and, later in her career, in Denver’s geriatric hospital, Beth Israel Hospital .  She was a resident of Golden, Colorado for 47 years.  Nellie was an active member of Mountair Christian Church.

Nellie is survived by twins Tracy Van Phariss (Howard) of Lakewood, Colorado and Dr. Bruce Wallace Phariss (Sheila) of Montclair, NJ, grandchildren Jenna Lanoff (Keith/Donna), Francesca Peila-Phariss (Keith/Khalila), Ryan, Colin and Bridget Phariss (Bruce/Sheila), great-grandchildren Brenda and Johnny (Francesca) and her brother Victor Drye (Lily).  She has many nieces and nephews and other relatives in Oklahoma.   Nellie was preceded in death by Lloyd in 2018, oldest son Lloyd Murray Phariss II (Laurie) in 2009, second oldest son Keith Allen Phariss (Donita) in 2015 and daughter Teresa Gaynell Phariss  in 1998.

Internment will be at Oakland-Knowles Cemetery in Crescent, Oklahoma with Abernathy-Aaron Funeral Home at a later date.

January 2, 1924 - December 10, 2020

Charlotte was a career RN, beginning her career in the Corps.  She passed in December 2020 at the age of 96.  She had 3 children, 5 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

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January 17, 1928 - May 5, 2015

Mary Frances Twiss, my mother, was in the Cadet Nurse Corps and graduated in 1948. Mary studied at St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver, Colorado. She kept a photo album of which I have scanned many of the photos.

She married Scott Emerson, my dad, who was in the US Air Force. They had a family of 7 children. Mary and Scott lived in Silver City, New Mexico; San Antonio, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Spokane, Washington; and finally National City, California.

Mary Frances Twiss Emerson passed away on May 5, 2015, in her home surrounded by her children.

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February 7, 1926 -  January 24, 2014

Mary Therese's daughter writes: 

Mary Therese (nee Power) Paynter served in the US Cadet Nurse Corps from 1944-1947 at Loyola University of Chicago, St. Bernard's Hospital Unit.

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Died May 21, 2018

Linda Patrick Rauch writes:

I am writing this on behalf of my aunt, Lois Rauch Adams. She was born in Palmyra, Pennsylvania in 1927 and went to Polyclinic Hospital. She joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, but never actually served [in the military] because the war was over before she graduated. She was a wife of a Navy pilot, and traveled and worked around the world. Her recent work was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband retired.

I followed in her footsteps and also became a nurse.

Passed away on November 15, 2017

Doreathea Leona Pistor passed away on Wednesday, November 15th at age 91. She was surrounded by her family and beloved caregiver, Fabiola Louis. Doreathea graduated from Memphum High School in Bellmore, New York and graduated with a summa cum laude B.S.N. degree in Nursing from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York in 1948 and later earned her Master's Degree in Nursing from Stony Brook. Upon graduation, her aim was to serve her country in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. The Second World War ended, and she began a fifty-year career in Nursing starting at Southampton Hospital. Her lifelong love of science subsequently led her to work at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the U.S. Government's top secret experimental program in nuclear medicine. She returned to hospital work at Riverhead and St. Charles hospitals and later transition-ed to school nursing in the Longwood School District in order for her schedule to accommodate her three active children. Doreathea was always busy and giving, whether at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, the Red Cross or dozens of other faith and medicine based charities.

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March 4, 1924 - July 19, 2017

I was a U.S. Cadet Nurse in 1944 and 1945 and completed my nursing at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado (1945).

A group of us VA nurses contacted as many as we could and got a bill passed in Congress that allowed nurses that worked in V.A. or government hospitals to add the years of service in Cadet Corps to their retirement -- if they were employed by federal government.

We were invited to attend the 50th anniversary of Cadet Nurses in Washington, D.C.

We did this before computers, but were able to contact many V.A. nurses around the country.

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Passed away December 22, 2014

Mary Elizabeth's son wrote:

Though she passed away on December 22, 2014, Mary was a graduate of Reesville High School's Class of 1941 and received her RN Degree from Bethesda School of Nursing, Cincinnati, OH in 1947 where she served jointly in the Cadet Nurse Corps from 1944-47. She completed her degree in Public Health Nursing from George Peabody College and mission studies at Scarritt College for Christian Workers, Nashville, TN. Following her training and start of nursing duties in Nashville, she was married on June 6, 1953, and moved to West Virginia where she and Marvan raised their family. There, Mary completed a 41-year nursing career that included, among others, public health nursing care in a number of counties and rural communities, duties as a Maternal and Infant Care Nurse, and, in her later career, the evaluation of nursing home care for the State of West Virginia.

August 22, 1926 - June 6, 2016

Amelia's daughter wrote: 

My mom graduated from West High School in Columbus, Ohio, at 15. She had to wait 3 years to join the Corps. By the time my mother joined the Cadet Nurse Corps on October 2, 1944, the quota restricting the enlistment of American African women to 56 enlistees had been lifted. She trained at City Hospital, now Metro, in Cleveland, Ohio. She completed her training April 2, 1947.

Mom worked in psychiatric and geriatric nursing. In 1978 she earned a BS in Nursing from Ohio University. She retired from the Veteran's Administration in 1988. She passed away June 6, 2016, at 89, in Columbus, Ohio.

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Virginia Bouchard wrote: 

My aunt Alice Rogers was a Cadet Nurse trained at Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1946.

June 21, 1926 - June 7, 2012

Barbara Brodie, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Eleanor Bjoring, PhD, RN, wrote this tribute, which appeared in the January 2014 issue of Nursing History Review.

On June 7, 2012, a dear friend and fellow nursing historian Rosemary McCarthy quietly died at the Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, Maryland, 19 days shy of her 86th birthday. The only child of Mary and Thomas McCarthy, Rosemary was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1926. A bright, talented, energetic, and serious young woman, she graduated from the Arlington High School on D-day, June 6, 1944. This was an important date for Rosemary because Allied troops were landing in France that day to begin the liberation of Europe from German occupation. Such a coincidence may have foretold her future.

Unsure of what she wanted to do with her life, she considered being a physical therapist, artist, or nurse. Because her family was of modest financial circumstances, she selected nursing. At the time, hospital diploma schools of nursing charged little if any tuition. She first applied to the famous Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing but was rejected because they had already "accepted their quota of Irish Catholic Students." She was not upset about this decision because the school also used quotas for Jewish and African American students. Encouraged by a family friend who was a nurse, she applied to the McLean Hospital School of Nursing in nearby Waverly. Admitted in 1945, she joined the school's U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Program because it provided her tuition, uniforms, and books, plus a stipend. In return, upon graduation she was required to serve as a military nurse if needed. Her serving as a cadet nurse during World War II, made Rosemary feel that she was, as other fellow Americans, answering the needs of her county.

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September 22, 1912 - September 15, 2003.

Jane Hebert Mudge recalls her aunt's story:

Aunt Margaret was my father's younger sister. She had her 90th birthday on September 30, 2002. That means she would be 104 years old if she survived until today, Monday, June 27, 206. During the early 1900s, she was the oldet daughter of 3 brothers and two sisters. They all lived with their parents in a house near the West Quincy quarries. Remarkably, several other family members, visiting Irish relatives and friends, found a welcoming place and stayed there too, as many others did in those needy, "Great Depression" times.

In the late 20s, whle Margaret was still in school, she worked as a page at the West Quincy branch library. After graduation she was employed full time, first at the Norfolk Down's branch and also as a substitute librarian at other locations, as needed.

Later she worked on a regular daily schedule at the main library's "Richardson" building in Quincy Square. Until 1943 when she entered the Cadet nursing program at the city hospital she was assigned to the Music Department, which was located in a small room at the top of the library stairs. There she helped establish one of the few libraries with music recordings and equipment available to the public, where machines could be used to listen to records in soundproof, private, auditing rooms.

Margaret would give record concerts in the evenings with commentary about the musical offerings. She was allowed to travel to the Boston Music Company and research whatever she could find in print, of the many classical and contemporary musical pieces available. The company's helpful employees introduced her to the "gramophone record compilations" which aided in the historical basis she needed to catalog the entire group of recordings.

During this time Margaret was hired and continued in her musical interests as the organist at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Quincy, where she gathered a detailed knowledge of church and organ music.

As you can guess by the dates above, Margaret entered the Cadet Nursing program rather late, and was older than most of her classmates. She was 31 years old. But when World War II happened and her brothers and uncles were entering the Navy and the Army, she felt a need to do something to help out the war effort herself.

At her 90th birthday, I gave Margaret several gifts, one was a book entitled, Cadet Nurse Stories, which tells the tales of some of those Corps members who were organized to provide for the urgent need for nurses during World War II.

After becoming a nurse, and the war having ended in 1945, Margaret was inspired to go further in her career and became a physical therapist. She trained at Columbia University in New York, helping with the well known Sister Kenny nurses, to rehabilitate polio victims during that devastating epidemic, before the Salk, and other vaccines to prevent polio were perfected.

While in New York, she met her future husband, married, and had 3 children. They moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where the family remained while the kids were growing up. During that time she worked as a school nurse and made many friends in the profession and in the community. One of her twin daughters, Claire, born when Margaret was well into her 40s, studied and became a doctor of veterinary medicine, graduating from Cornell University where she met, and eventually married, a philosophy professor.

When Margaret retired she continued to enjoy playing the piano and entertained at local nursing and retirement homes, singing, along with her husband, to the old, familiar tunes of the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

I'll always rmember her giving me my first book. It was a book of poetry by Robert Lewis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses. I recall this line especially, "The world is so full of so many things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." 

Margaret certainly made that statement come true in her own life, as so many of her peers did. She was always a special mentor to me. I, too, beame a nurse, graduating from the same nursing school at the Quincy City Hospital, way back in 1954, not very long after Margaret had become a Cadet. And I also enjoy singing at local nursing hoes and other venues, as well as being a member of the poetry group that meets monthly at the Quincy Thomas Crane Public Library.

Thanks for listening.

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Ruth's daughter writes: 

My mother was a graduate of Mt. Sinai School of Nursing in 1946 in the Cadet Nurse program. I am unable to locate her graduation picture and have a question regarding if she used her maiden or married name while in training. I remember hearing a few stories as a child, such as hush hush bridal shower by her classmates in the student resident dorm. A friend of mine, Jeanne Bryner, RN, is an author and is writing a book of student nursing experiences as an anthology. My Mom was a very special nurse and worked at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, Ohio, for over 40 years and was a very special person.

October 30, 1925 - April 25, 2015

Dorothy Jasiecki trained to be a nurse and went on to a long career as a teacher. She lived in Brooklyn, Florida, and Arizona.  Said one of her students: 

I had Miss J for 9th grade English & 12th grade was in her homeroom my senior year at Norland- graduating in 1962- I was also a charter member of the Future Nurses Club. My Miss J was my inspiration to go on to become a nurse & then later I became a teacher of nurses.

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Mary 11, 1923 - July 28, 1997

Ray Schaffranek writes: 

Hilda Louise Booterbaugh, my mother-in-law, served as a Cadet Nurse for three years during World War II.  She was born May 11, 1923, in Coupon, Pennsylvania, the middle daughter of Martin and Thelma (Donoughe) Booterbaugh. Hilda graduated from Woodbury High School, New Jersey, on June 11, 1941; attended Philadelphia School of Auditing; and graduated from Atlantic City Hospital School of Nursing on May 26, 1946. During World War II, she served in the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps from July 1, 1943, to May 26, 1946, performing nursing duties at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Hilda married John Stasik of Coupon, Pennsylvania, in 1947, and in 1948 they gave birth to their only child, a daughter Susan, whom I married in 1969. Hilda’s husband-to-be received a Purple Heart for wounds he received on the morning of October 20, 1944, at Leyte Gulf as his amphibious assault craft helped secure the beachhead in advance of the landing of General Douglas MacArthur during the liberation of the Philippines.  From her start in Cadet nursing, Hilda went on to receive a degree in public school nursing from Indiana State Teachers College, Pennsylvania, on August 18, 1957. In subsequent years, she pursued graduate studies and attended professional development workshops at Columbia and Penn State Universities. Hilda retired from Greater Gallitzin Joint and Penn Cambria High Schools in Pennsylvania on June 3, 1988, after serving 35 years as a public school nurse. Hilda was a Registered Nurse in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She was a member of the Descendants of Civil War Veterans of Blair County, Pennsylvania, and a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Coupon, PA. Hilda Louise (Booterbaugh) Stasik passed away on July 28, 1997, after a nine-month battle with cancer and is buried next to her husband in St. Joseph Cemetery, Coupon, Pennsylvania.

February 24, 1926 - August 13, 2014

Ann Marie Gianotti writes: 

My dear friend and neighbor, Marguerite was in the Cadet Nurse Corps and graduated Grace Hospital in 1947 as a registered nurse. She worked in all three City of New Haven hospitals. She also worked at the Knights of Columbus for fifteen years in the membership department. She handled public relations for the West Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Spirit Alive Chorale.

Marguerite mentioned her duties while training, how she made sure to be very precise in her reports to the doctors she worked with at that time. She would say, "there were no computers!" She would say the pay was low ($1.00 a week she said) but her passion for nursing and her faith was what gave her the love of service to others. She is truly missed.

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Ann Marie is in her last year of nursing school and graduates in fall 2015!

May 19, 1926 - March 22, 2009

Rosemary Pezzuto, Merilyn's daughter writes: 

Merilyn Rose White Pezzuto RN, 1923-2014 served proudly as a member of the Cadet Nurse Corp at Dibble Hospital in Menlo Park, California. She has shared stories and memories of this very important experience. These stories included stories about patients that she came to love and the struggles that they experience due to their time in foxholes, defending our freedom, and the anguish that they had about being injured and not being able to continue the fight.   Often she shared stories of the friendships she had with other nurse corps members and the importance that those friendships had not only during the difficult times of the war but even to her adulthood.   Many of the skills of leadership, service, and commitment came from the time spent in the Corps.

The role models she became inspired many young people. Each of her six children modeled some gift that she learned though her life. Her daughter Eileen studied nursing and went on to be involved in nursing administration. She is currently the regional VP of care coordination at Sutter Health in San Francisco. Her granddaughter, and Eileen’s daughter Sarah too entered the field of nursing is following her grandmothers commitment to health care as a practicing nurse at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, California. She is currently working on her Masters degree at the University of California, San Francisco. Merilyn also inspired many including her daughter Rosemary who followed her footsteps into the military and served 20 years in the US Coast Guard. Her sons Don and Tom went into business and have served the community through their work. Cici inspires young people through her job as a career counselor—something she watched her mom do as she mentored many young people through her lifetime. Mary has spent the recent years as a consultant and using her creativity to serve in the community. Each of these attributes came from the knowledge, Skills and Abilities that Merilyn learned in those important years as Cadet Nurse.

March 17, 1922 - December 9, 2014

Norma Mattern writes: 

My Mother, Patricia Wegemer Malin, was part of the Cadet Nurse Corp in the 1940s at the Delaware State Hospital.  She moved into Assisted Living last year and died unexpectedly and quietly in December 2014.  In going through the things in her home, we have found her Cadet Nurse cape, a gray hat, a summer skirt, and numerous photos and newspaper clippings.  Also have two binders full of very organized, hand-written class notes she made with incredible penmanship, performance evaluations, and other paperwork - such as a transcript of a radio program in October 1946, where she participated with several other Cadet friends, and a handwritten U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps oath.

Elsie Szecsy writes: 

Thank you, Patricia and Norma, for entrusting me with these most valuable artifacts of service to our country and the nursing profession. I will take care of them. They are of deep interest to me in my work as a researcher as well as my role as daughter of a Cadet Nurse.This gift also reminds me of the need to archive these valuable artifacts of an important part of World War II history.

August 11, 1926 - October 26, 2013

Marian J. Wasnich Klingler was a 1944 graduate of Montpelier High School and a 1947 graduate of Flower Hospital School of Nursing. 

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June 16, 1922 - September 21, 2002

Admitted to the United States Cadet Nurse Corps: October 14, 1943

After graduation in 1946, married Lt. Charles Trimble, home on leave from the United States Air Force. Their children are Charles, Craig, and Carol.

Caroline worked private nursing in Johnstown and Memorial Booth Memorial Hospital, Covington, and Baptist Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.

She retired in 1975.

Caption: 

September 1943

Eleanore (left) and Caroline, daughters of Ralph and Irene Van Ormer formerly of Browning, have enlisted in the United States Cadet Nurse Corps. They will receive three years training at Springfield Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Springfield, Illinois. Upon completion of their training they will be eligible to enlist as officers in one of the branches of the armed forces nurse corps.

Col. Thomas J. Tredici USAF MC (Ret) writes: 

I am husband of Margaret DeSantis Tredici RN (Deceased). She trained at Duquesne University (BS) and at Mercy Hospital School of Nursing Pittsburgh (RN). In 1945 she was a member of the Cadet Nurse Corps at Deshown Army Hospital in Butler PA. At that time I was a pilot in the Eighth Airforce in the UK. We later married.

June 13, 1925 - January 18, 2014

Portteus Stephens Corporon Hughes (Port, Portie) attended and graduated from Arcadia High School in 1943 and joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. She then became a nursing student at Mount Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg, Kansas. After graduation she became a Registered Nurse in October of 1946. Part of her training was completed at the City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. She worked at Mount Carmel Hospital for two years. Portie’s infectious smile, positive outlook on life, playfulness, welcoming hospitality, and her toe socks will be missed by her family, church and community.

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July 17, 1916 – May 19, 2015

Mary Lucich, a life-long resident of Merced, was born July 17, 1916, in Merced, California, to Carlo and Annunziata (Garfagnoli) Stefani, and passed away peacefully at 98 years old on May 19, 2015, with her loving family by her side. The daughter of Italian immigrants from Marlia, Lucca, (Tuscany region), Mary realized the American Dream. Growing up on 20 acres in the Franklin district, where her father farmed tomatoes and sweet potatoes, Mary attended Franklin Grammar School, and Merced High School, graduating in 1934. After working at various jobs in Merced, including the cannery and Hartman’s Department Store, Mary pursued her dream of becoming a registered nurse. She received her R.N. degree in 1947 from Mercy School of Nursing in Sacramento, CA, as a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.

Married on April 11, 1948, to John Anthony Lucich, a local businessman originally from Sacramento, proudly they raised their four children together. Once her children all reached school age, Mary returned to nursing as a very dedicated and passionate home health care nurse with the Merced County Public Health Department, always giving her full attention to caring for her patients. She retired in 1981.

A life-long participant of community involvement, after retirement Mary continued as a volunteer nurse. In 1936 she became a member of the Italian Catholic Federation; a charter member in 1959 of the Community Concert Series (Merced Symphony Association) and a board member for many years; and a member of and docent for the Merced County Historical Society, receiving their Letus Wallace Award. As a faithful member of the Our Lady of Merced/St. Patrick’s Parish, for years she taught catechism classes. Recognized by the Merced County Old-Timers Association, additionally, she was a member of: American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, Native Daughters of the Golden West, the Druids, OLM Mother’s Club, and was instrumental in organizing several Franklin School Reunions.

For all her accomplishments, however, Mary placed the highest importance in her time spent with family, including her "chosen children" as she referred to them, and European relatives. Her family defined her and she extended her welcoming, warm heart, selflessness, unconditional acceptance, and love to all while igniting her love of travel and sense of adventure in us.

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July 5, 1925 - October 1, 2013.

Rita wrote:

On August 16, 1943, I entered the St. Francis School of Nursing in La Crosse, WI. At the time it was depression years. My parents were struggling financially but willing to find some way to pay. Can you imagine how $300 for 3 years was a financial burden? I wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl. A few days after admission, we were called into assembly and told that the school had been accepted by the United States Cadet Nurse Corps. It was an answer to our prayers, and I was also able to serve my country in the time of WWII.

For the next 30 months, I went to classes, did floor duty on the general units and specialized departments. We worked all three shifts including split shifts. I was in the Communicable Disease Department during the polio season. We had six patients in the iron lung of which one survived. During our last six months, I worked on several different units, including OB. In OB it was nine months after the war was over and we had babies, babies, etc. OB was my favorite department. We also studied for State Boards and I am happy to say I passed on my first attempt.

For the next 34 years I worked in many areas including Medical, Surgical, Orthopedics, OB, and Office Nursing. After graduation I worked one year in Highland Park, Michigan, in OB, and in 1955-1956 I worked weekend float Nurse in Denver General in Colorado.

In 1950 I married Walter Swinghamer. He served in the Aleutians WWII -- Staff Sargeant in the U.S. Air Force. He worked for Whitaker General Medical until retirement. Our daughter, Sandy, was born in 1954, our son Jim was born in 1956. Our daughter has worked as a CCU Nurse and is now a Telephone Nurse Advisor. Our son is a Nuclear Medicine Technologist in a VA hospital. His wif is the District Manager for Cardinal Health Nuclear Pharmacy Services. They have two daughters. Erin will start as a fourth year Pharmacy Student at Drake University. Kelly will be a first year Psychology student at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. She is interested in occupational therapy. Our son-in-law owned Fanning Electric and is retired.

In 1957, I went to work in OB-Labor and Delivery and in 1967 I was appointed Head Nurse. In 1980 I retired from St. Francis Medical Center on disability with MS.

A collage of Rita Swinghamer as Nurse (left), Cadet Nurse in uniform (center and top right), and now.

1926 - 2009

Serial Number 137338

Admitted June 17, 1945

Graduated July 28, 1948

Passed away March 1, 2014.

Mary Louise Schrade (Boucher) graduated from the U S Cadet Nurse Corps 9/14/1948

Carmen Frances Salazar, R.N., was in the Cadet Nurse Corps in World War II. She graduated from the Los Angeles County General Hospital School of Nursing in 1944 and passed away in May 2007.

Charlene Orr writes: 

My mother, Katherine Jane Rickes Orr enlisted 1944, graduating from Vassar Brother's Hospital School of Nursing in 1947. Poughkeepsie, NY. Of the 33 classmates, I believe only 8 are left. My mother passed away, January 2009. I have a good friend, Thelma Robinson who lives in Boulder, and the author of wonderful books about the Cadet Nurse Corps. Another is Marjorie Patak, of Woodridge NJ. I keep in touch with both. Am so glad to see a FB page of the CNC!

March 18, 1925 - December 24, 2004

Helen's son writes: 

My mom, Helen (Poh) Engel, grew up in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. When she was in high school in the 1940s she decided she wanted a career. The main choices she saw available to her were to be a secretary, teacher, or nurse. When she was a junior in high school she decided to become a nurse. She speculated in later years that her choice have been influenced by her seamstress mother, who had spoken of having wanted that career herself.

Mom was seventeen when she graduated from high school and knew that if she only took a three year program she would still have to wait a year to turn 21 to be able to be licensed. So she enrolled in the School of Nursing at Marquette University to earn her B.S. and become an R.N.

Helen lived with Mick and Marion Wedewart, her aunt and uncle, in West Allis. Helen worked in the restaurant Mick and Marion operated on 84th & Beecher - LaPlante's Lunch - to pay for her tuition. It was here that she met her future husband, Russ Engel, who lived around the block.

Helen and Russ started dating around 1943 but he enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He started basic training in October and then shipped out to the Pacific.

In 1944 Helen enrolled in the U.S. Public Health Service's Cadet Nurse Program. The USPHS paid Helen's tuition ($110 per semester) and a stipend ($15 per month) in exchange for the obligation to serve for the duration of World War II. In Helen's case, her service was as a 2nd lieutenant nurse in the Army. Helen graduated from Marquette with her Bachelor of Science degree in 1946, the year after the war ended, and was licensed as a Registered Nurse.

Helen worked for a year at Door County Memorial Hospital in Sturgeon Bay, and then married Russ in 1947. She moved to Milwaukee and took a job at St. Joseph's Hospital in Milwaukee. She immediately got pregnant. When her condition began to show the hospital gave her two choices - quit or work in the nursery. Helen stayed a while but then left three months before the birth
to the first child. But that did not keep her out of the workforce. After the first child was born Helen resumed her career as an R.N., this time at St. Michael's Hospital in Milwaukee.

Helen went on to have a total of 13 children, while juggling her career.

It was especially tough being a working mom in those years. Some expressed their disapproval of the young mother returning to the workforce. And there were no maternity benefits. Helen recalled in 1981, "When I first started working I had to quit working each time I got pregnant." She would then have to fill out an application to come back after the birth. "Things changed a
little by the time I had my last two. But I still had to work right up to the end if I wanted to keep my benefits."

Helen worked at St. Michael's for over 35 years. For a good portion of that she was a head nurse. In 1981 she looked back at the changes she had seen. "We were practicing team nursing when I first came here. But since I worked on 3-West, which was all private rooms, it was kind of like primary nursing all along to me."

"We had an R.N., an L.P.N. and three nursing assistants on PM's on 3-Main then. Now I work with four other R.N.'s and two Nursing Assistants. That gives me time to teach patients. We couldn't do that before; we were too busy doing other things."

"The whole nature of nursing has changed since I began working. Now we have in-service classes to teach us about new equipment and new techniques. We have floor meetings and support groups. And the whole nursing process is better. Nurses have more responsibility today than they ever did, and that's a big step ahead."

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March 10, 1927 - July 27, 2014

Helen Perkins Lucenay was a Cadet Nurse Corps graduate from Providence Hospital, Waco, Texas.  Mrs. Lucenay earned an Associate Degree in Nursing in 1947. She shared her love for people, medical knowledge and compassionate touch with many patients. Those settings included: James Connally Air Force Base, private duty, labor and delivery-Hillcrest Hospital, and the Veterans Administration Hospital Psychiatric Unit for many years. In 1978, Mrs. Lucenay furthered her education, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She was soon named the Infection Control Nurse for the Veterans Administration Hospital until her retirement, February 14, 1996.

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January 17, 1927 - November 25, 2011

Becky Sumpter, 84, passed away Nov. 25, 2011, in her home at Bonita Creek, Arizona. She was born Jan. 17, 1927 to William Kenneth Compton Nourse and Emily Maud Nourse in Tucson, Ariz. As a young girl, Becky spent much of her time outside enjoying the variety of birds and animals and the diverse plant life the Sonoran desert had to offer. Being home-schooled, she had many hours each day to wander the land in the shadows of the Catalina Mountains.

Mrs. Sumpter attended the University of Arizona where she studied library science. During her early years of study she decided to take a nursing class and discovered her passion — taking care of people. World War II was raging and she joined the Cadet Nurse Corps program and became a registered nurse. Becky trained at St. Monica’s Hospital in Phoenix and, over the years, shared many amazing stories of “nursing in the old days.”

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September 7, 1924 - July 7, 2001

October 3, 1926 - June 15, 2008

Cecilia ("Sis") Marie Muschi Dawydiak attended St. Joseph's College of Nursing under the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during WWII, and was proud of her Cadet uniform, her St. Joseph's nurse cape and pin. She fell in love with "Gene," a sailor she met at the USO Club in 1945 and they married in 1951. Sis then attended the University of San Francisco, and became one of 14 pioneering women, all registered nurses, to graduate in 1950; the first class of women. She worked at Maimonides Hospital and in the '50s became a pediatrics instructor at Mt. Zion's School of Nursing under Chair, Ganelle Griffin. When the school closed, Sis, the late Norma Muthe and Marion McDermott, were tapped by Ganelle to start CCSF's School of Nursing in the '60s. In the '70s she received a masters degree from San Francisco State University.

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August 4, 1925 - February 20, 2010

Sarah graduated from high school in 1944, and was accepted into the Registered Nursing program of the Cadet Corps, graduating in 1947. Upon graduation from nursing school, Sarah's nursing career was centered in public hospitals. According to her daughter, Nancy Richards-Stower, the cadet program was her mom's way to her nursing career.

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Died January 13, 2012 at the age of 89.

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January 16, 1924 - February 17, 2013

Always the adventurer, Marian joined the Cadet Nurse Corps at 17. She trained at St. Catherine's College - St. Joseph's school of nursing, and, upon graduation, was stationed with many of her fellow graduates at Fort Whipple in Prescott. At Whipple, Marian made many lifelong friends whom she treasured to her dying day. Along with friends, Marian met and married a recovering Navy man, Allen Tope, with whom she had four children.

Nursing for Marian was not just a career; it was a way of life. Along with nurturing her family, she cared for Phoenix patients in ICU and Orthopedics; eventually retiring from active nursing in 1987 as head nurse of oncology at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Donna Maloney writes: 

My mother, Dorothy Backman Hampton, was a graduate of Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing and a member of the Cadet Nurse Corps. She passed away in 2009. She was apparently used as a model for articles about San Francisco/ Oakland area hospitals.

I recently met with some people at Samuel Merritt University, and they are in the process of putting together something about the Corps as a number of their graduates were members.

I have already written to my Senator with little luck.

If there is anything I can do, please let me know.

donnam16551@aol.com

Died March 19, 2011 at the age of 87.

Rose Arabelle (nee Logue) Carter, was a graduate of the USCNC, serving in the burn ward at NTS Sampson (Hospital), Sampson NY, from April to October 1945.

Rose was a student & (Nov ’45) graduate of St Michael’s Hospital School of Nursing, Newark NJ. She served as a visiting public health nurse in the Monmouth County Organization for Social Services (MCOSS) in New Jersey until 1967, when she moved to Florida. She served as a geriatric charge nurse in various hospitals and nursing homes in the Clearwater FL, area until she retired and moved to New Smyrna Beach FL in 1986 to be close to my younger sister and her new family.

Carol Beeman writes: 

My mother, Elsie Jean Kostelny Mauratt, was a World War II Cadet Nurse.  She was admitted to the corps on September 22, 1943, and issued her card on March 1, 1944.   She worked at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago Illinois.   Throughout her life she valued her early nursing experiences.  She died in Portland, Oregon, on March 11, 1996, after lovingly devoting her life to her husband and 2 daughters.   Our dad (age 88) still resides in Portland and is a proud WWII Navy veteran.  He would be especially pleased if mom's war effort was also officially and publicly recognized by the government.

September 26, 1922 - February 25, 2013

Helen Kleinschmidt Olson was a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II. She entered in 1943 at the Indianapolis City Hospital and graduated in 1946. She served in the tuberculosis ward at the hospital after the war.

Unfortunately, Helen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's ten years ago and hasn't been able to communicate for years. Her daughter, Lisa, is doing all she can as a child of a Cadet Nurse to get the recognition they deserve and is very proud of her mom, what she had to go through and her service to our great country. Lisa hopes that these great women are recognized before all of them are gone. .

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December 18, 1927 - December 8, 2011

March 1, 1924 - February 13, 2010

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Nightingale tribute

May 18, 1926 - January 18, 1977

Her married name was F. Hilda Gutek. 

April 7, 1926 - November 3, 2012

My mother, Theo E. Jespersen (at the time) completed the Cadet Corp nurses training program at LA County - USC Med. Center during WW2.  I don't know the exact years.  She passed away on Nov. 3, 2012.  She was always very proud of her service in the Cadet Nurse Corps.  She became an RN and worked in Santa Maria, CA, at Sister's Hospital, Marian Hospital, and later became a School Nurse at the local high schools.  She married and had 2 sons (last name Openshaw). 

Neal Openshaw

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August 4, 1924 - February 5, 2011

Rose graduated as a registered nurse from St. Vincent Nursing School and served in the Cadet Nurse Corps at the Great Lakes Hospital Naval Hospital in Chicago during World War II. Rose married the late William P. Hurrle in 1947. Bill and Rose moved to Tucson, AZ in 1979 where their youngest son, Francis Xavier (deceased), attend the University of Arizona. They returned to Indianapolis in 2001.

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Died February 5, 2010, at age 82.

The shortage of nurses was so great, recalls Mary Callahan of her training days at Chelsea Memorial Hospital, "that the students were running the hospitals. The only Registered Nurses on the floor were supervisors. Everyone else was a student and we had 120 beds." 

The routine of classes and duty in the hospital was demanding, but she acknowledges she may never have been able to pursue a career in nursing without the incentives offered by the government.

Following graduation she worked at the Contagious Disease Hospital in Brighton dealing with patients with polio, cholera and yellow fever "and we had one whole unit full of iron lungs" at the height of the polio crisis.

Married in 1949, she and her husband Paul moved to Baltimore where she worked at the Sinai Hospital for three years before returning to Foxboro where they would raise their five children.

Mary left nursing in 1969 to devote her full attention to caring for Paul, who passed away in 1973. She then went back into the work force full time as nurse manager when the Foxboro Area Health Center opened on Mechanic Street, working there until 1989.

She looks back on a rewarding career and a fulfilled life, grateful for the program that helped make it possible and her opportunity to step forward when her nation called.

-adapted from The Foxboro Reporter, Thursday, November 12, 2009, p. 3 & 5

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October 4, 1926 - November 8, 2010

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January 9, 1918 - November 16, 2012

Nancy Smith Phibbs was born on January 9, 1918, in Linwood, North Carolina. She was the youngest of three children and grew up in High Point, North Carolina. After she graduated from high school she held various jobs and in 1941 she entered a Seminary in Nyack, New York. A year later she began Cadet Nurse training at Memorial Hospital, Charlotte, North Carolina from 1942-1946. Upon graduation she was given the choice of the Army, Navy, or Indian Service. She chose Indian Service as a nurse and worked at both Fort Defiance and Tuba City, Arizona. Nancy considered her work on the reservation the highlight of her nursing career. In Tuba City, Arizona, she met and married George A. Sakiestewa in 1947. In 1948 her only child Ramona Sakiestewa was born. Nancy continued her nursing career in Albuquerque working at the Indian Sanitarium, St. Joseph's Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, the Veteran's Administration Hospital, and the Kirtland Dispensary.

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January 17, 1922 - September 24, 2014

Genevieve Farrah Moers was a proud member of U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.

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August 20, 1911 - May 14, 1969

Frieda Emmons was a Cadet Nurse who worked as a nurse up until the time of her death in 1969.

October 30, 1927 - March 20,1972

Patsy Dean Trainor moved to Farmington, New Mexico, in the 50's and was a nurse for a local doctor. Later when she and her husband Earl were sent to the Reservation in Arizona for work in oilfield, she served as the Camp Nurse.

August 1, 1927  - July 30, 2005 

1924-2011

Avril Joyce Cook Wadsworth's daugher writes: 

My mother, Avril Joyce Cook Wadsworth, began her nurses training at Baptist Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. She then accepted the assignment as a Cadet nurse at Kennedy General in the same city. She had thought about going farther...wanted to serve in the Army overseas. However, the war was over by the time she had her R.N. degree, and she married a handsome soldier, Norman Milton Wadsworth. She was employed at Baptist Medical Center, supporting Norman (my dad) while he pursued his studies in optometry. The picture I am sharing was their engagement picture. She was very proud to serve as a Cadet!

March 24, 1927 - April 14, 2011

Passed away on April 29, 2013, at age 90.

Ellamae Branstetter was the 8th & youngest child of Murray & Ellen (Purcell) Branstetter. Her early years and schooling were in Miami, Oklahoma. She was a Cadet Nurse and received her nursing diploma from Jewish Hospital, St Louis in 1944. She received her BS from St Louis University in 1954 and her M.P.H. degree in public & mental health nursing from the University of Minnesota in 1957. She earned her Ph.D in Human Development from the University of Chicago in 1969. In 1958 she was recruited from the Visiting Nurse Service in Phoenix to help inaugurate the Arizona State University College of Nursing, where she was among the first three faculty members. She left ASU in 1964 to pursue her research and returned in 1967 to develop the initial graduate program in nursing.

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ASU Retirees Association Video History Project interview with Ellamae Branstetter, taken in 2007, about her work at Arizona State University and the development of the field of Nurse Practitioner:

December 12, 1926 - July 6, 2012

Jeanie Blakesley Good began her nurse's training in 1945, right out of high school. She started at Montana College in Bozeman and continued her studies at Deaconess Hospital in Billings, which was followed by affiliations with various hospitals in Montana and Wyoming, where she learned different nursing skills.

Cadet Nurse training meant 3 years' round-the-clock training, day and night, including summers.

Jeanie knew that after training was over, she faced two years of service in the Army. "That was my commitment," she said. "If I finished training, then I would have to. And I would have done so gladly.

Read more about Jeanie's life in this book by her granddaughter, Heather Evagelatos Robertson.

John Martin Harper reported that his mother, June Lois Bergstrom, passed away in 1992 in San Francisco, CA. 

Passed away in 2009.

January 25, 1924 - June 4, 1963

Virginia was a U.S. Cadet Nurse and took her training through the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, probably in 1943/1944. She graduated from high school in 1942. She never married and had no children.

If anyone has more information on Virginia, please contact Cindy Graff at greenfrogs79@yahoo.com.  Thank you.