Corrine Schlom entered the Cadet Nursing Program in 1944, as part of the Bolton Act of 1943 to call up nurses for national service during WWII. She entered St. Mary's Nursing School in La Salle, Illinois, in 1944 for 3 years of training with a 3 year obligation afterwards. She was 17 when she joined. When the war ended in August, 1945, she was still in training, but in 1947 she was assigned to serve at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis, MN, taking care of the wounded and helping to rehabilitate many of the young soldiers who were permanently disabled. Only the top nurses were selected for this duty.
Since the war was over, she was released in 1947 and entered civilian nursing as a surgical nurse, working for Dr. Loyal Edward Davis, Nancy Reagan's father. My mom later went on to work in Geriatric Nursing for the rest of her career. At age 92, she still works twice a week at a prominent rehabilitation center in Glenview, Illinois. We believe she is the oldest nurse still practicing in Illinois.
Generously provided by the family of Corrine Schlom