Irma W. Lindquist

is honored with a Brick from Beth and Kempton Lindquist.

Irma Winifred Eleanor Lann Lindquist was born on a farm in Lincoln township, Marshall County, Kansas, on September 29, 1909. She was the second born, the first having died at birth, and one of six - two brothers and three sisters. All four of her grandparents came to the United States from Sweden to settle in Kansas. Her mother died of a staph infection when Irma was 18, leaving her with the responsibility of helping to raise her five younger siblings, the youngest of which was six.

Irma attended a rural grade school, skipping a grade and graduating from the eighth grade at age twelve. She attended Axtell high school, living with an aunt in town during the week, and returning to the farm to help her father with household tasks on the weekends. She recalls evenings at home reading serialized stories in the weekly papers. She maintained a lifelong interest in reading, subscribing to the "Atlantic Monthly," "Harper's Weekly" and "The Saturday Review" among other periodicals.

In 1926 Irma entered Bethany College. She loved college life, majoring in Biological Science and participating in co-curricular activities like debate and drama. She had a double minor in public speaking and French.

After graduating in 1930, depression times all over America, Irma accepted a teaching position in Frankfort, Kansas. She taught high school math and, with her income, insured that her younger siblings had the opportunity to attend college. With one exception, all finished college, most attending Bethany. She spent several summers pursuing graduate studies at the University of Kansas and the University of Colorado.

In 1935 Irma left her job in Kansas and entered the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she completed a Master of Nursing degree and spent one year as a staff nurse at the University hospital. She continues to maintain friendships with women in her class and has attended several reunions, the last of which was the 55th.

The Depression was hard in Kansas. One of the effects was to drive farmers and their adult children off the land. The Lann family was no exception. By 1939, one of her sisters and brother-in-law had moved to southern California. Irma move to Los Angeles to be near them and their young son, and went to work for the Bishop Johnson College of Nurses at the Hospital. of the Good Samaritan, teaching surgical nursing. While working near Hollywood, she treated contemporary movie stars, including Jimmy Stewart.

By 1941 the war had improved the economy and Irma returned to the Midwest, accepting the Director of Nursing position at Trinity Lutheran Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Writing in August 1941, a former instructor from Western Reserve commented on Irma's move: "I know that it will be a great satisfaction to you, to your family, and to Trinity Lutheran Hospital to have you assume your new responsibilities. I am sure your high ideals and standards of nursing education and nursing service will be an inspiration to both staff and students...I judge you have a very fine type of girl in the school."

While attending a Bethany College alumni event in Kansas City, Irma renewed her friendship with Emory Lindquist, a former classmate from college and then president of the College. They began dating, traveling back and forth from Kansas City to Lindsborg, mostly by train. In the spring of 1942 they became engaged and married in June. Irma moved to Lindsborg and began working at Lindsborg Hospital as Head Nurse and soon became Hospital Manager, a position she held from summer 1943 until fall 1944. According to the "Lindsborg News Record:" "Under her management the hospital has operated under excellent conditions. She has proven her ability both as a nurse and an executive, in that the hospital has prospered financially as well as in excellence of care given the patients, even though overcrowded at times and with a shortage of available nurses."

Irma and Emory's two children, Elizabeth Ann Marie (1948) and Kempton Theodore (1953) were born in Lindsborg.

In 1953 the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where Emory accepted a faculty position at Wichita State University. Irma did not work outside the home after their move to Wichita, and devoted her life to raising her children, helping her husband, being a friend, and serving her church and local community in organizations like the Women's Missionary Society of the Augustana Lutheran Church, Church Women United, PTA, the AAUW and other service organizations.

Presently, she is active in her church women's circle, the University Dames, and Stitch and Chatter. She financially supports non-profit social action groups like Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, Oxfam, UNICEF, and CARE. She loves watching WSU athletics and traveling to visit her children.

Submitted by Beth Lindquist

September 12, 1998