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Nurse Ruth Beery:
Correspondence with Next-of-Kin
- Ruth Beery
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About Ruth Beery...
Ruth Beery was born on May 18, 1901, in Missouri to a Methodist minister, Dewitt Aldine Beery, and his wife, Jennie. Her family moved to Virginia when she was four. Following completion of her secondary school studies at Jefferson High School in Roanoke, she attended and graduated from Emory and Henry College. Beery then trained at the University of Virginia Hospital where she remained as an instructor in science at the School of Nursing. While later a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, she was asked to be the principal chief nurse of the World War II hospital sponsored by the University of Virginia. Before she could accept the offer, the Army had to grant her an age waiver as she was 41, one year older than the Army age limit for entering service. Commissioned a 1st lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, she was instrumental in recruiting nurses to serve and dedicated herself whole-heartedly to the task, appealing for help by personal interviews, letters, speeches, and radio. According to Byrd Leavell’s book on the 8th Evacuation Hospital, Beery was a “capable nurse and competent administrator” who “was unselfish; her concern was for the comfort of the sick and wounded, the duties and welfare of the nurses, and the reputation of the 8th Evacuation Hospital.” She served as chief of nurses for the duration of the war, obtained the rank of captain, and was awarded the Legion of Merit.
Bibliography
- 8th Evac Collection. Historical Collections and Services, The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
- Leavell, Byrd Stuart. The 8th Evac.: A History of the University of Virginia Hospital Unit in World War II. Richmond: Dietz Press, c1970.
- Wenger, Joseph H. History of the Descendants of J. Conrad Geil and His Son Jacob Geil. Elgin, Illinois: [Author], 1914. Digitized by Google.