Bio: Henchen, Clara (Woman/Year - 1980)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Henchen, Nightingale

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 10/02/1980

Henchen, Clara (Woman/Year - 1980)

Clara Henchen’s life is a shining example of women, who like Florence Nightingale gave of themselves for others.

Clara, like Florence, didn’t just put in her nursing day and then forget about people. Clara was and still is active in community affairs, interested in people, and in helping. She’s had to slow down a bit, but having celebrated her 89th birthday this past January, that’s understandable.

The day that Clara was informed that she had been selected by the Neillsville Business and Professional Women’s Club for their first “Woman Of the Year” award, she replied, “I’m amazed!”

She had just been discharged from the hospital for what she said were “just tests.” Although frail, she still stands and walks straight and erect. After her initial reaction, her next thought was how she could best help the interviewer. She said, “I can see where you have only a short time to do this, and I’ll try to get my thoughts organized and get you the information you’ll need.”

Clara retired from the nursing profession eleven years ago on October 30. She was at the time a nurse at the Neillsville Memorial Home and had ended a career which had spanned 52 years.

She worked continuously after her graduation from Finley Hospital School of Nursing, Dubuque, Iowa. Her first 23 years were spent at a hospital in Dubuque as an operating room supervisor, followed by five years at a similar post in Warren, Ohio.

She returned to Wisconsin in 1948 and worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield until 1951 when she transferred to Victory Memorial Hospital in Stanley. She returned to Neillsville when Memorial Hospital opened and served as surgery nurse supervisor until 1964. She then served as a nurse in Memorial Home.

During her nursing years, she continued taking courses, including a course in surgical nursing at Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio; and one in nursing supervision at Greeley, Colorado. She took a Red Cross course in nursing at Fort Collins, Colorado; continuous evening courses at the University of Dubuque; one in nursing supervision at the University of Chicago; and a course in sociology at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield where she was taught by a Sister from Cardinal Stritch College, she recalled.

Retirement No Problem: When Clara retired, she didn’t have the problems so many people have of “what to do with their free time,” as she had always had many interests.

She did set priorities, based on what she felt to be “her usefulness.” One of Clara’s interests has been and still is the Neillsville Memorial Hospital’s and Home Auxiliary. She recalled, “We used to meet even before the hospital was built, every Monday night at the high school. There were at one time 175 members, and I believe now its dwindled to about 50.” The Auxiliary was organized (and page 2 was not to be found. Dmk)