Biographies

North Carolina Nurses Who Made Significant Contributions to the Nursing Profession

Each of the nurses below has made unique and significant contributions to the nursing profession in North Carolina.

Enter a name, keyword or phrase.
Name Known for Dates
Clara Adams-Ender
Brigadier General in the U.S. Army
1939- ; s.1961-1993
Gale Adcock
State Representative / NCNA Hall of Fame Inductee
2008
Frances Allen
Polio Epidemic Nurse
1916-1999
Goldie Allen
Appalachian Itinerant Red Cross Nurse
1920s-1930s
Marilyn Augustin
"Healer of the Hills"
1980s
Mary Ione Branch Bain
WWI Nurse from Halifax
1897-1991
Amy Louise Fisher Barrier
Lutheran Watauga Parish Nurse
1901-1990
Mary Rose Batterham
2nd RN in the US
1870-1927
Julia Choate Baxter
Korean War Army Nurse
1920-
Cherry Maynor Beasley
Nursing Leader and Lumbee Indian
1953-
Frela Dean Owl Beck
Cherokee Nurse
1940-
Audrey Booth
NC Nursing Leader
1924-2019
Florence E. Boyd
"Angel of Mercy" in the Mountains
1950s
Josephine Burton Bradham
First RN in North Carolina and the US
1875-1917
Kathleen Bragg
Pioneer Outer Banks Nurse
1897-1975
Carrie Early Broadfoot
Founder of NCACGN
1870-1945
Edith Broadway
Superintendent of Morehead City's First Hospital, 1912
1877-1952
Charlotte Brody
Nurse and Environmental Activist
1960s-
Idell K. Buchan
Public Health Nurse in Moore County
1887-1947
Nancy Burrage
Cabarrus County Pediatric Nurse
1950s-
Dorothy Butler
Mission Belle Pediatric Nurse
1927-2013
Virginia Yearick Card
US Army Nurse
1940s
Elizabeth Scott Carrington
RN Instrumental in Founding Carolina's School of Nursing
1902-1993
Patty H. Carter
Director of Nursing Lincoln Hospital
1911-1948
Mildred I. Clark
US Army Colonel; 12th Chief of the US Army Nurse Corps 1963-1967
1915-1994
Betty Baines Compton
Pioneer Nurse Practitioner
1940-
Margaret Lucille Covington
U.S. Navy Flight Nurse
1919-2019
Frances Reed Elliott Davis
First African American Red Cross Nurse; WWI Nurse
1883-1965
Christabelle Dilworth
St. Agnes Graduate
1920-2013
Dorothea Dix
Mental Health Advocate
1840s
Virginia Rosebud Sneed Dixon
Eastern Band Cherokee / WWII and Korean War Veteran
1919-2021
Margaret Dolan
National Nursing Leader; 1st ANA President from NC
1914-1974
Bessie Catherine Draper
Dare County Public Health Nurse
1904-1976
Louise P. East
President NCSNA 1948-49 and First Nurse President of NCPHA 1952-53
1940s-1950s
Laura Easton
CEO of Caldwell Memorial Hospital
1980s-
Rose Ehrenfeld
State Director of Public Health Nursing
1877-1961
Thereasea Delerine Clark Elder
Early African American Public Health Nurse in Charlotte
1927-2021
Sharon Elliott-Bynum
Community Organizer / Health Care Provider
1996-
Rene Ellmers
1st NC Nurse Elected to US Congress
2011-2017
Frances Farthing
Watauga County Nurse
1911-
Anne Ferguson
Spanish American War Nurse
1872-1941
Rosalie A. Ferguson
WWI Base Hospital No. 65 Nurse
1896-1975
Vernice Doris Ferguson
Nursing Executive and Mentor
1928-2012
Delaine Tabor Fleming
African American Pioneer Nurse and Mentor
1925-2015
Janet Garvey
Operation Desert Storm Nurse
1962-
Lula Owl Gloyne
1st Eastern Band Cherokee Nurse
1891-1985
Lisa Goldstein
Mountain Midwife
1950s-
Calla Virginia Goodwin
Lt. JG, Korean War Nurse
1922-
Annie Ruth Graham
Vietnam War Nurse
1916-1968
Ernest J. Grant
President of NCNA and ANA
2018-2020
Evelyn Barbara Whitlow Greenfield
WWII POW Nurse in the Philippines
1916-1994
Ruth Crew Grimes
Winston-Salem Red Cross Nurse and Spanish Flu Nurse
1892-1921
Madelon “Glory” Battle Hancock
Most Decorated Nurse in WWI
1881-1930
Donna Allen Harris
First African-American Graduate of Duke University School of Nursing
1949-
Margaret Harry
Red Cross Nursing and Nursing Mentor
1920s
Ruth W. Hay
Public Health Nurse and First Female Professor at UNC Chapel Hill
1930s
Annie Lathan Odom Hayes
Community Health Nurse and Educator
1927-2009
Edna Heinzerling
Author and Nursing Administrator
1888-1977
Helen J. Henley
WWII Nurse from Greensboro
1920-1948
Mattie Donnell Hicks
WWII Nurse and Korean War Veteran
1940s-1960s
Ruby A.F. Woodbury Scarlett Hilton
Early African American Nursing Leader
1920s
Lydia Holman
Community Health Pioneer
1900-1960
Patricia D. Horoho
Chief of US Army Nurse Corps and 43rd Surgeon General
1960-
Abby House
Angel of Mercy to Confederate Soldiers
1797-1881
Betty Hunt
LPN Nursing Leader
1947
Mary May Iles
Ashe County Nurse
1925-2017
Thelma Ingles
Started "Clinical Nurse Practitioner" Program at Duke
1903-1983
Della Hayden Raney Jackson
African American Trailblazer and WWII Nurse
1912-1987
Harriet Jacobs
Civil War African American Nurse
1813-1897
J. Ida Roberts Jiggetts
Mental Health Social Worker and Scholar of Judaism
1901-1992
Polly Johnson
NCNA Hall of Fame Recipient
2008
Jamarica Smith Jones
Child Health Nurse, "Asthma Champion," and Poet
1950-
Nancy Kautz
Community Outreach Nurse, Ashe County
1944-
Johnea D. Kelly
Outstanding Nursing Educator and UNC Faculty Member
1928-2021
Elizabeth Kemble
First Dean of UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing
1950s
Margaret Belva Mizelle King
WWII and Korean War Nurse
1918-2004
Mary King Kneedler
Public Health Nurse
1913-2010
Carmen Lacey
Avery County Nurse
1957-
Amelia Lawrason Wilson
North Carolina's First Public Health Nurse
1874-1946
Annie Lee Lawrence
Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and Nursing Educator
1929-2020
Sue Lynn Ledford
Public Health Administrator from Cherokee County
2000s
Eloise Patricia Lewis
First Dean of UNC-Greensboro
1920-1999
Helen Howard McFayden
Presbyterian Missionary Nurse
1886-1969
Helen Sullivan Miller
Dean of NCCU
1950s-
Mary Mills
Pioneer in Global and Transcultural Nursing
1912-2010
Martha Pegram Mitchell
WWII Nurse
1917-2019
Marie Brock Noell, RN
Visionary Leader and Executive Director of the NCNA
1941-1967
Anne O’Connell
Proprietor of Princess Anne Hotel, Asheville, NC
1920s
Katie Mae Grace Paul
Pioneer Teacher of Licensed Pratical Nurses
1909-
Clara Jane Peck
First Public Health Nurse in Greensboro, NC
1862-1926
Anne Penland
WWI Nurse Anesthetist
1885-1976
Virginia Russell Reavis
WWII Air Evacuation Nurse
1920-
Edith Redwine
First "Inspectress" of Nursing Schools in North Carolina
1877-1939
Joy Reed
Public Health Nursing Administrator
1970s-
Hettie Mable Reinhardt
WWI Nurse
1879-1953
Charlotte Rhone
Social Worker and First African-American Nurse in NC
1874-1963
Daisy Conner Robinson
African American Pioneer Nurse
1892-1947
Delia Smith Rominger
Avery County Nurse
1918-2014
Blanche Catherine Hayes Sansom
Early African American School Nurse
1910s-1950s
Judy Seamon
First Chair of the North Carolina Center for Nursing
1980s
Lucy Ashby Sharp
Spanish-American War Nurse
1862-1912
Lovie Beard Shelton
First Public Health Nurse in Pamlico County
1925-2013
Mary Singletary
St. Agnes Graduate
1928-2017
Ernestine Brown Small
First African American Teaching Faculty Member at UNC Greensboro and First African American President of NCNA
1960s-
Virginia Stone
Pioneer in Gerontological Nursing
1960s-1990s
Ora L. Strickland
National Nursing Leader, Scientist, Educator and Author
1960s-
Terry Taylor
Courageous HIV/AIDS Activist
1941-
Mary Elizabeth McMillan Thompson
Cumberland County Nurse
1902-1982
Julia Latta Tinnin
African American Nurse Trailblazer
c.1867-1939
Eugene Tranbarger
President of NCNA and Chair of the NC Board of Nursing
1970s-
Nancy Vance
Pioneer Public Health Nurse
1886-1942
Mary Phinney von Olnhausen
Civil War Nurse and Abolitionist
1818-1902
Ernestine Walkingstick
Cherokee Public Health Nurse
1937-1999
Lula Warlick
Director of Mercy Hospital SON in Philadelphia for 23 Years
1884-c.1950
May Greenfield Watson
WWI Nurse
1886-1958
Pearl Weaver
Pioneer Public Health Nurse
1879-1969
Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes
Civil War Nurse; Hospital Founder
1827-1913
Lucile Zimmerman Williams
Nursing Administrator and Educator
1907-1971
Ruby L. Wilson
Dean of Duke School of Nursing
1971-1984
Mary Lewis Wyche
"Florence Nightingale" of North Carolina
1858-1936