Recently I saw a 1919 photograph of Central Boulevard newly planted with 31 maple trees in memory of those from Kewanee who died in World War I.
Curious, I researched the online Kewanee newspaper archives at the Kewanee Public Library and found a list of those who gave their lives in service to their country.
A name immediately jumped out at me – the only woman in the group. I decided I needed to find out more about here.
Hester Marie Girvin was born to Thomas and Hessie Camey Girvin in 1896. The family lived on a farm southeast of Neponset on the Kentville Road, and Marie lived there most of her life.
Young Marie attended Neponset’s Douglas School through eighth grade. She then attended St. Xavier Academy in Ottawa, run by the Sisters of Mercy as primarily a college preparatory school for girls.
Marie moved to Kewanee in 1915 to attend the St. Francis Training School for Nurses. She graduated in May 1917.
Marie continued to work at St. Francis after graduation. But as World War I progressed and United States troops prepared to embark for Europe, she and four fellow nurses, Bessie Heaton, Kathleen Lyons, Bess Lawier and Mary Lappin, joined the American Red Cross in July 1918 and prepared for immediate assignment.
That assignment came in August. Marie was sent to Camp Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.
She began working at Camp Jackson’s base hospital.
But only two months later, Marie came down with a case of the Spanish influenza, which had begun reaching epidemic proportions around the world. However, after a few days, she thought she had recovered, so she returned to her work. But then a few days later she was taken ill again, this time with pneumonia, followed by spinal meningitis.
Marie Girvin died on October 8, 1918, at the base hospital where she worked.
When the first Neponset American Legion Post was formed after the war, the organization named their post in honor of Marie, the MARIE GIRVIN POST NO. 297.
Miss Hester Marie Girvin died in the service of her country. Thank you, Marie. You deserve to be remembered, along with all others who have served our country without reserve.
