Upon completing state requirements, Connie became a registered nurse on January 28, 1946. Shortly thereafter, the superintendent of St. Mary Mercy Hospital offered Connie a full-time job as a Charge Nurse on a surgical floor. Six years later, she left St. Mary Mercy Hospital, becoming Head Nurse at US Steel’s Gary Tube Works infirmary.
She loved her job and sought to increase her credentials by securing a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Connie applied to Indiana University Northwest and received her letter of acceptance on March 13, 1958. While pleased with this information, the letter indicated that her nursing credits from St. Mary Mercy would be granted upon her satisfactory completion of a residency requirement at Bloomington or Indianapolis. Unable to meet this obligation, she had no choice but to defer this goal. A few years later she received a promotion and transferred to the Gary Works Medical Department as Head Nurse, located at 215 North Broadway.
Connie at US Steel, Gary Tube Works, 1967, CRA 453
Connie withdrawing medicine with a syringe at US Steel, Gary Tube Works, CRA 453
Connie at US Steel, Gary Tube Works, 1952, CRA 453
