Healthcare pioneer helped found IVCC nursing program

One of the pioneer women in healthcare, Mary Reiter is a tiny, fragile looking woman with a contagious smile and an inquisitive mind. But don’t be fooled - that diminutive frame houses a strong will and a gigantic heart.

Now a resident at St. Margaret’s Hospital Skilled Nursing Facility, 40 years ago Mary helped to launch what would become the Illinois Valley Community College nursing program. Although at age 93, time has dimmed her eyesight, the still-adventurous spirit of a gifted writer and compassionate nurse shines brightly.

In 1931, Mary climbed the first rung on the educational ladder when she obtained her Associate of Arts degree from LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College, now known as Illinois Valley Community College. She went on to Northwestern University in Evanston, where she received her bachelor’s degree in speech with a major in theater and drama.

However, any hopes Mary had of pursuing a career in the theater were dashed by the harsh economic reality of the era. “In 1934, the Great Depression meant having to defer following up on chosen college majors,” Mary explains. But thanks to a gentle nudge from her sister, Frances, Mary soon had a new field of study.

In a 1999 article for Vigilando, the alumni journal of Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Mary wrote about her fateful decision: “When Frances, already a nursing supervisor, mused in a letter to me that a hospital provides many studies of human drama, I decided to apply at Hopkins.”

Mary received her R.N. from Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing in Baltimore in 1937. She later went on to receive a master’s degree in public health nursing in mental health from the University of Minnesota, as well as a master’s degree in pediatric nursing from Columbia University.

In the late 1930s, Mary worked as a private duty nurse for the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service in Manhattan and the Bronx. One of her patients during that time was Tom Carnegie, first cousin to millionaire Andrew Carnegie of Carnegie Library fame.

Tom Carnegie had eye surgery requiring a private duty nurse upon his return home. “He had a terrible fear of nurses,” Mary recalls. “But after meeting me, he said he got over his fear,” she adds, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

In 1966, Mary was teaching at the College of Nursing Medical College in Charleston, South Carolina, when another fateful career decision landed in her lap.

Mary’s mother, who lived in Peru at that time, was contacted by Crystal Springborn. Crystal wanted to know if Mary would be interested in helping to start a two-year nursing program at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby.

“I don’t know much about starting a nursing program,” was Mary’s honest reply, “but just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

With that, Mary’s career came full circle, bringing her back to her alma mater. She returned home to the Illinois Valley to live with her mother and sister, Naomi, who was the postmistress at the Cherry Post Office. For the next four years, Mary was a clinical instructor and collaborator in instituting the Associate of Arts program for nurses at IVCC.

“I first had the pleasure of knowing Mary when I was a nursing student at IVCC,” recalls Pat Duchaine, R.N., Vice-President of Nursing Services at St. Margaret’s. A student in one of Mary’s first classes, Pat remembers vividly her first day of nursing orientation.

“Mary and Crystal Springborn, the director of the nursing program, met with all the new students to welcome us and to let us know what was expected of a nursing student,” Pat says. “What impressed me most about Mary was her love for nursing and the feeling of pride she had in being a nurse.”

Although Mary left IVCC to become an Assistant Professor in Psychiatric Nursing at Columbus College in Columbus, Georgia, hundreds of graduates of the IVCC nursing program have benefited from what Mary began. She later returned to Spring Valley and worked as a staff nurse at Lexington House until her retirement in 1974.

“Classes back then were more about patient care rather than a lot of theory,” says Mary of her days at IVCC. But she also admits some things never change: “Nursing has a lot of twists and turns and students have to be prepared for that.”