Jessie Ethel Bigelow 1882-1964

BIGELOW, NIVISON, IRWIN, ALBRO, HOWE

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 9/25/2013 at 23:15:53

Miss Jessie Bigelow Dies at 82
Miss Jessie Bigelow, 82, longtime and well-known Estherville retired nurse, died Sunday at Holy Family Hospital at 6:30 p.m., her death attributed to a stroke suffered Feb. 13 at the Good Samaritan Home. Miss Bigelow was taken Feb. 15 to the hospital.

Last rites are to be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Fuhrman Funeral Home, the Rev. Ira B. Allen, of Detroit Lakes, Minn., nephew of Miss Bigelow, officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Pallbearers are to be Arthur B. Irwin, David Allen, Robert F. Howe, all nephews of Miss Bigelow, and Roy Christensen, Robert M. Hansen and Romaine Sondrol.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anson E. Bigelow, Jessie Bigelow was born Feb. 17, 1882, in Au Sable Forks, N.Y., and came with her parents to Emmet County when a child.

She received her early education in rural schools of the county and later attended college at Cedar Falls.

She taught school for a few years and then decided to enter nurse’s training, which she took at Illinois Training School for Nurses in Chicago, Ill.

After graduation from training in 1907, she worked for a short time in the hospital where she had received her training.

She decided to make private nursing duty her career and continued in that line until World War I.

Miss Bigelow enlisted as a nurse in the United States Navy and for a time was stationed at the Great Lakes Training Center, Chicago. She later was transferred to a hospital at Chelsea, Mass., where she served for the duration of the war. During the time she was stationed there the influenza epidemic that raged during World War I struck the hospital, causing nurses and doctors many sleepless nights and days.

After returning to Estherville, Miss Bigelow engaged in private duty until her retirement in 1945.

At that time her home was on the West Side and she continued to live there, caring for her own yard and flowers, as long as her health permitted.

She later moved to an apartment on S. 9th St., and in 1962, moved to the Good Samaritan Home.

Miss Bigelow was a lover of the outdoors and spent many hours at her favorite outdoor hobby, fishing.

She is survived by four sisters, Mrs. Thomas Nivison, Estherville; Mrs. William S. Irwin, Vandenberg, Calif.; Mrs. Francis Albro, Tacoma, Wash., and Mrs. Fletcher Howe of Spencer, and a number of nieces and nephews.

One sister and two brothers preceded her in death.

Friends may call at Fuhrman Funeral Home until time of services. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, February 24, 1964)