Workday Wednesday - Nurses

 

 

In 1926, my great-grandmother Elizabeth Linnemann Speck graduated from the Memorial Hospital Training School for nurses, located in Monongahela, just north of Monessen. The Charerloi Mail (left and The Monessen Daily Independent (right) both ran articles about the commencement ceremony. Elizabeth was 29 years old and her children were 11 (Agnes) and 8 (Frank).

 

This is the only time I find any mention of her nursing background. In both the 1930 and 1940 census, Elizabeth has no occupation listed. In 1942 when she married her second husband, her occupation is listed as "Manager, Specks Transfer". This was her first husband's business. I don't know if Elizabeth ever worked as a nurse, or did and it was never recorded anywhere. In 1931, the newspaper reported that a nursing student from the Cannonsburg Hospital was recuperating from surgery at the home of Elizabeth and her husband Frank.

 

In 1963, Agnes Speck Cubbage (Elizabeth's daughter) became a nurse at Overlook Hospital in Summit, NJ. Agnes and her family had been living in New Providence for about 10 years. She was 48 years old and both of her children had graduated from high school.

 

 

Here is Agnes receiving her nurse's cap at Overlook Hospital.