Evelyn Weigold Crane
A white woman with short dark hair parted at the side, wearing glasses, earrings, dark lipstick, and a print dress with a wide square neckline
Evelyn Weigold Crane, from a 1982 publication of the US Department of State
BornNovember 24, 1919
Winsted, Connecticut
DiedOctober 17, 2009 (aged 89)
Connecticut
Occupation(s)Nurse, foreign service official

Evelyn Ethel Weigold Crane (November 24, 1919 – October 17, 2009) was an American nurse. She served as an Army nurse on a hospital ship in the China-Burma-India theater in World War II. She was Director of Foreign Service Nurses at the United States Department of State from 1955 to 1962.

Early life and education

Evelyn Weigold was born in Winsted, Connecticut, the daughter of Robert R. Weigold and Gladys Marguerite Pulver Weigold. She graduated from the Gilbert School in 1937,[1] and trained as a nurse at Rhode Island Hospital School of Nursing. After World War II, she earned two bachelor's degrees, in nursing and public health, at the University of Minnesota.[2][3]

Career

In 1942, soon after becoming a registered nurse, Weigold volunteered as an Army nurse, part of the 48th Evacuation Hospital unit initially assigned to Fort Devens, then on a hospital ship, the USS Monticello, from 1943 to 1945.[4] Weigold's unit was based in Burma,[5] mostly treating Chinese troops under the command of General Joseph Stilwell.[2]

After the War, Weigold worked as a nurse in Massachusetts. She joined the State Department, first posted at the US Embassy in Bangkok,[1][6][7] where she established a health unit and assisted with embassy nursing projects at Okinawa, Saigon, Vientiane, and Phnom Penh. She worked in Washington as Director of Foreign Service Nurses in the department's Medical Branch, from 1955[8] to 1962.[9][10] Myrtis Coltharp, a Red Cross nurse, succeeded Crane as director.

In Connecticut after 1962, Crane volunteered with Planned Parenthood, the American Red Cross, the Public Health Nurses Association,[11] and other public health organizations.[2] She was also active in reunions of the China Burma India Veterans Association in Hartford.[12]

Personal life

Weigold married a State Department medical director, Harold Le Roy Crane, in 1961.[9][13] She retired to Connecticut with him the following year. She was widowed when Crane died in 1974.[14] In her later years she was active in hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and skiing with the Appalachian Mountain Club of Boston. She died in 2009, aged 89 years.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Miss Weigold Renamed to Bangkok Assignment". Hartford Courant. 1953-08-22. p. 21. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Evelyn Crane Obituary". Crossville Chronicle, via Legacy.com. October 22, 2009. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  3. ↑ "Extra Nurse Added to Staff of Health District No. 3". The Boise City News. 1948-04-29. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Nurses in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II". CBI Theater. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  5. ↑ "Connecticut Group with Hospital Unit". Hartford Courant. 1943-05-26. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Foreign Service List. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1953. p. 82.
  7. ↑ Walther, Regis (December 1952). "Foreign Service Nurses in the Field" (PDF). Foreign Service Journal: 46.
  8. ↑ "Accepts Nursing Position". Hartford Courant. 1955-12-29. p. 35. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 DeVault, Virgil T. (1982). The Origins and Development of the Office of Medical Services, Department of State. The Department. pp. 12, 64.
  10. ↑ "No Needles Here". Department of State News Letter: 48. July 1962.
  11. ↑ "Aides Review Social Worker Need". Hartford Courant. 1973-09-19. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Military Reunions". Hartford Courant. 1999-12-28. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Dental Clinic Sponsored by Mothers Club". Hartford Courant. 1961-04-15. p. 36. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Dr. Harold Crane Dies; Studied Altitude Sickness". Hartford Courant. 1974-01-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
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