1914
Mary
2008
Mary Caroline Schleifer
September 1, 1914 — December 7, 2008
Harlingen, TX:
Mary Caroline Schleifer, 94, passed away on Sunday, December 7, 2008 at Retama Manor.
Mary was born September 1, 1914 to Lena Fanny Cloudt Schleifer and Bartholomew Hermann Schleifer in Kerrville, Texas. They soon left the hill country and moved to Buffalo, New York. She graduated from Williamsburg High School in 1932 and Buffalo City Hospital School of Nursing in 1936. In 1938, while a nurse at Buffalo City Hospital, she chose to accompany her family back to the warmer climate of Texas, due to her father’s failing health.
Here, in the Rio Grande Valley, Mary began a long career of helping to bring modern nursing to the area. She responded wherever the challenge was the greatest. One of those challenges occurred during the polio epidemic of the 40’s, where she witnessed the Sister Kenney treatment help restore paralyzed muscles.
One cold winter, while working in the Cameron County TB Hospital, there was a shortage of blankets to keep the patients warm. She searched and found a wheelbarrow of old bricks which she warmed in the kitchen oven and placed in the patient’s bed – changing them every two hours.
When Hurricane Beulah struck the area in 1967, she worked in the emergency shelters giving care to the victims, many times working round-the-clock with limited supplies and facilities.
She helped Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen, Texas grow from a small community hospital to the large modern medical center that serves the Lower Rio Grande Valley today. Rio Grande Valley Historical Museum complex, located in the Industrial Air Park, has a reconstructed First Valley Baptist Hospital and on its wall is a plaque honoring three “Pioneer Valley Nurses, 1939”, and Mary Schleifer is one of those three.
In 1977, she was revered by the Texas Nurses Association by being selected the “Nurse of the Year” for Cameron and Willacy County.
The 1984 issue of Notable Women of Texas honored her for her work in the Rio Grande Valley.
Mary retired in 1987 after devoting a lifetime to her chosen profession.
She is survived by her sister Marguerite Rich, niece Marilyn Smith, nephews Burt and Ted Rich, and their families.
She was preceded in death by her parents, and brothers Walter, Frank, and Hermann.
A special thanks to Odyssey Health Care of South Texas for their care.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, December 10, 2008 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.
Graveside services will be held on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 2 p.m., at Mont Meta Mausoleum Chapel in San Benito with Pastor Oscar Garcia officiating.
Mary Caroline Schleifer, 94, passed away on Sunday, December 7, 2008 at Retama Manor.
Mary was born September 1, 1914 to Lena Fanny Cloudt Schleifer and Bartholomew Hermann Schleifer in Kerrville, Texas. They soon left the hill country and moved to Buffalo, New York. She graduated from Williamsburg High School in 1932 and Buffalo City Hospital School of Nursing in 1936. In 1938, while a nurse at Buffalo City Hospital, she chose to accompany her family back to the warmer climate of Texas, due to her father’s failing health.
Here, in the Rio Grande Valley, Mary began a long career of helping to bring modern nursing to the area. She responded wherever the challenge was the greatest. One of those challenges occurred during the polio epidemic of the 40’s, where she witnessed the Sister Kenney treatment help restore paralyzed muscles.
One cold winter, while working in the Cameron County TB Hospital, there was a shortage of blankets to keep the patients warm. She searched and found a wheelbarrow of old bricks which she warmed in the kitchen oven and placed in the patient’s bed – changing them every two hours.
When Hurricane Beulah struck the area in 1967, she worked in the emergency shelters giving care to the victims, many times working round-the-clock with limited supplies and facilities.
She helped Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen, Texas grow from a small community hospital to the large modern medical center that serves the Lower Rio Grande Valley today. Rio Grande Valley Historical Museum complex, located in the Industrial Air Park, has a reconstructed First Valley Baptist Hospital and on its wall is a plaque honoring three “Pioneer Valley Nurses, 1939”, and Mary Schleifer is one of those three.
In 1977, she was revered by the Texas Nurses Association by being selected the “Nurse of the Year” for Cameron and Willacy County.
The 1984 issue of Notable Women of Texas honored her for her work in the Rio Grande Valley.
Mary retired in 1987 after devoting a lifetime to her chosen profession.
She is survived by her sister Marguerite Rich, niece Marilyn Smith, nephews Burt and Ted Rich, and their families.
She was preceded in death by her parents, and brothers Walter, Frank, and Hermann.
A special thanks to Odyssey Health Care of South Texas for their care.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, December 10, 2008 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Buck Ashcraft Funeral Home.
Graveside services will be held on Thursday, December 11, 2008, 2 p.m., at Mont Meta Mausoleum Chapel in San Benito with Pastor Oscar Garcia officiating.
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