Rosedith “Rosie” (Van Hoorebeck) Hawkins was born on March 11, 1919, to Richard J. and Christina Van Hoorebeck. She attended St. Joseph’s Parochial High School in Rock Island, Illinois, where she played piano and participated in theater. She then attended Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Davenport, Iowa, receiving her first-year cap in 1938. She graduated in 1940. After working on the staff of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Centerville, Iowa, she enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1942.

She married Corporal Clifford A. Hawkins on October 4, 1943, while stationed as an Army Nurse at LaGarde General Hospital in New Orleans. Louisiana.

Hawkins served as a nurse in New Guinea and the Philippine Islands during World War II, from 1944-1946. She earned the rank of First Lieutenant. Nurses entered service as a second lieutenant, the vast majority remained at that rank. Hawkins’ promotion to the rank of First Lieutenant usually signifies chief nurse of a hospital.

By 1945, there were more than 57,000 Army nurses – this is the largest number of nurses on active duty in history. They were assigned to hospital ships and trains; flying ambulances; and field, evacuation, station, and general hospitals, assisting in developing recovery wards for immediate postoperative nursing care.

Hawkins retired as a registered nurse after 20 years at St. Luke’s Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, eventually taking up residence in Eddyville, Kentucky. She passed away on April 20, 2011, at the age of 92, in Kentucky. Her husband preceded her in death, she was survived by her son, grandson and two great-grandchildren. 


ROSEDITH HAWKINS

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