Ethel M. Reed and Deanna Noonan Interview, July 16, 1991

• Main Authors: Reed, Ethel M., Noonan, Deanna
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ScholarWorks at University of Montana 1991
• Subjects: Pacific; Attu
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/montanawomennurses_oralhistory/9; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/montanawomennurses_oralhistory/article/1008/type/native/viewcontent/OH_259_015_016.mp3; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/montanawomennurses_oralhistory/article/1008/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/OH_259_015_016.pdf

Ethel Reed recalls growing up while moving throughout western Montana in the 1920s and 30s. She discusses her decision to become a nurse and her training at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington. She talks about her nursing work in Kalispell, Montana before she served as an Army nurse during World War II. She talks about her service experience as a nurse and the service culture in Washington state, Hawaii, and Guam during the war. She discusses treating soldiers and Marines in the Pacific, including from the Battle of Attu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. When she was discharged, she became a public health nurse in Lake County (Montana) before mothering children and continuing more informal work as a private care nurse. Reed’s daughter, Deanna Noonan, discusses how her experience becoming a nurse in the 1970s and 80s in Montana differed from her mother’s and supplements Reed’s memories with her point of view. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/montanawomennurses_oralhistory/1008/thumbnail.jpg