M. Elizabeth Shellabarger

M. Elizabeth Shellabarger was born in Moffat, Colorado, on October 16, 1879, the daughter of Adam Shellabarger (died 1915) and Abigal "Abbie" Wales, Colorado pioneers. The other children were: Charles Walter (b. 1875), Ralph Wales (b. 1877), Emma Irene (b. 1882), Clara Ethel "Dolly" (b. 1884), Gertrude Eloise (b. 1891). Shellabarger graduated from East High School (Denver) in 1899 and then attended a Special Literary Course at Emerson College of Oratory in Boston, in 1901 and 1902, and a Vocal training at New England Conservatory of Music. She entered Bellevue Hospital Training School of Nursing in June 1905, graduating in 1908, and Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1916, obtaining a B. S. in 1920. ==Career==

M. Elizabeth Shellabarger was the first person from Saguache County, Colorado, to become a Registered Nurse. 1920s From 1920 to 1921, Shellabarger was Director of the Public Health Nursing Course at the University of Colorado, with field service at Pueblo, Colorado. In 1922, she was director of Public Health Nursing under the American Red Cross Nursing Service in Albania and Montenegro. In 1924, she was Director of the Public Health Nursing Course at the Missouri School of Social Economy in St. Louis. From 1925 to 1927, she was Superintendent of Hospital and School of Nursing at Memorial Hospital, Cheyenne, Wyoming: from this position she voluntary resigned when the Board of Trustees would not give the necessary support to raise the standards and meet the requirements to become Class A under College of Surgeons. She was the president of the Wyoming State Nurses Association in 1926. In 1928 and 1930, she made a survey of Schools of Nursing in Arkansas for the State Board of Nursing Examiners while she was Inspector of Schools of Nursing. She was then named Educational Secretary. In October 1929, she taught Sciences at the City School of Nursing, Colorado. Shellabarger was member of American Legion Auxiliary, Cheyenne College Club, American League of Nursing Education, American Public Health Association, Episcopal Church, Order of the Eastern Star, Daughters of the American Revolution, and American Association of University Women. ==Personal life==

M. Elizabeth Shellabarger lived at Rito Alto Ranch, Moffat, Colorado, and retired to Tempe, Arizona, in the 1950s. At the end of the 19th century Shellabarger was romantically involved with Ralph Wykes Garretson (1878-1903), but he died on September 7, 1903, from a ruptured appendix. It was then that Shellabarger decided to become a nurse. Shellabarger died on June 25, 1967, and was buried, with military honors, at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, New Mexico. ==Legacy==

Alice Elizabeth Selch Stephenson, her grandniece, wrote the memoirs of Mary Elizabeth "Bess" Shellabarger, Three Scuffed Suitcases: Biography from the diaries Of Mary Elizabeth "Bess" Shellabarger Colorado World War I Nurse. ==References==