GLEN CARBON - Ruby Foster has been recognized multiple times recently for her post-World War II efforts with the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.
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Ruby, a resident of Meridian Village in Glen Carbon for 15 years, is now 90 years old, but still as vibrant as most are 20 years her age. Her memory is strong of the days when she signed up for the Cadet Nurse Corps, created by the Bolton Act. She was 16 in 1945 when she started and graduated in 1948. She earned her diploma in the Civil Hospital in St. Louis.
Ruby’s husband was a radiologist at St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield and she was a registered nurse for 20 years, then she volunteered. The couple moved to Meridian Village and after her husband’s death, she said she has progressed through the home’s system.
Vickie Rogers of Lewis and Clark Community College nursing, has become a close friend of Ruby and escorted her on an Honor Flight and had her recognized in other ways.
“Vickie lined up the Honor Flight and also took me to a hockey game,” Ruby said. “Vickie is a wonderful person.”
Ruby said her father didn’t have the money to educate her after high school, so she decided to enter the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps. She said she thought that was her way of giving back in the post-World War II effort.
She treated some World War II returnees in St. Louis, one had a tropical disease and another she remembered had problems with a broken hip from the war. She said she worked a lot in the emergency room at the city hospital and mentioned one Saturday night that was difficult.
“One Saturday night, I treated 10 patients with head injuries,” she said.
One of her most memorable nights as an emergency nurse came when a man entered with severe wounds to his body after a man was brought in face down and needed attention. She led his treatment and was credited with saving the man’s life ultimately, she said.
Overall, she said she will always have a special place in her heart for the veterans who served this country.
“We were a very patriotic nation in World War II,” she said. “I thought what I did with the Cadet Nursing Corps was something we could do.”
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