Ethyl Emily Walker 1878-1951

WALKER, GROVES

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 4/28/2016 at 23:56:13

Miss Ethyl E. [Emily] Walker Had Long Career in Nursing Profession
Ethyl E. Walker was born in Marengo, Ia., June 6, 1878.

Early in life she heard stories of heroic women from her mother, and decided to help suffering humanity. She went to Chicago at the age of 18 and took up the study of nursing, and was a graduate of two hospitals, and became a member of the White Cross association and was one of the oldest Red Cross nurses of Iowa.

While in the hospital in Chicago, she volunteered to nurse during a diphtheria epidemic in an orphans’ home in Illinois. She later became a government nurse at the Old Soldiers’ home in Illinois.

Still later, she came to Estherville and established herself as owner of the city hospital where she worked until World War I when she enlisted as a Red Cross nurse.

When she arrived in New York City, she was sent to England at base hospital 33 where she remained until the close of the war, returning with the last boatload of wounded soldiers.

She returned to her hospital at Estherville, but decided to go to Florida and later closed the hospital. From Florida she moved to Los Angeles where she joined the staff of nurses at the Good Samaritan hospital. She remained on the hospital staff there twenty-seven years until July 1, 1950, when she returned to Estherville. Miss Walker was a member of the Presbyterian church.

She was buried Thursday afternoon at Des Moines in the family lot. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, September 25, 1951)

Ethyl died on September 17, 1951
The application for a military headstone shows her birthdate as June 6, 1879, with 1879 crossed out and 1880 written in. The application was completed by her sister, Mrs. M.J. Groves Her passport applications show June 6, 1878.