North Carolina Nursing History

Amy Fisher Barrier was born in 1901 in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina to Rev. James Henry Cornelius Fisher and Leah Janette Blackwelder Fisher.  Her father was a professor at Mount Amonea Seminary.  Barrier graduated from Mount Amonea Seminary, and soon after attended Marion College in Virginia.  Barrier officially graduated from Carthage College in Carthage, North Carolina.  However, she received her nursing degree from the Cincinnati General Hospital in Ohio in 1927.  This was after some thought of becoming a medical missionary to India.  Barrier worked in the hospital setting until moving into public health.  She completed the public health course at William and Mary College.  This took her to work at the Mountain Mission School near Chilhowie, Virginia.  Later she became the Lutheran Watauga Parish Nurse in Boone, North Carolina.  Barrier was sponsored by the Women’s Missionary Society.  Later the State Board of Health started the Health Department, and Fisher became an employee of the state.  She continued doing the same type of work in the community.  Barrier enjoyed her work in Boone, North Carolina, and later went to receive her Master’s Degree with a concentration in supervision and public health nursing at Columbia University.  Barrier excelled in this position and held many supervisory positions.  As her career grew she later became the Chief Nurse of the Public Health Nursing Section for the state of North Carolina.  She retired in 1967 and returned to her home town of Mt. Pleasant.

Source: Memories of Mont Amoena, Educating Young Women in Mount Pleasant, NC 1859-1927: Fisher, Amy Louise