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Johanna grew up on a farm in a loving family in rural South Dakota. She wanted to get an education but had to leave school after the eighth grade and work in Volga to earn money to save the family farm (during the depression). She worked at Volga's hospital and with little schooling eventually became a nurse and the assistant to the town doctor.
She married the son of the minister of First Reformed Church who became a teacher and later a minister. While Henry was in seminary in Holland, Michigan, she worked as a nurse at Holland Hospital and went to Hope College. She took correspondence courses to become a practical nurse (later called a licensed vocational nurse).
As a minister's wife she did a wonderful job but always felt insecure about it because of her humble beginnings. When the family moved to San Francisco in 1960 and Henry had a severe heart attack in 1963, she trained to become a EKG technician and worked at Laguna Hospital in San Francisco for a number of years. She & Henry retired and moved to Carmichael in 1978 and Henry died shortly thereafter.
She continued working as a nurse thereafter. She had two bouts with cancer and finally succumbed in the summer of 1987.
1913 |
January 29, 1913
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Volga, South Dakota, United States
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