As I reflected on individuals within our church fam-
Aily who have made significant contributions to our church , I immediately thought of Eloise Siskel – one who gives unceasingly of her time , her gifts , and her talents .
Eloise grew up on a farm near the small town of Gosport , Indiana – one of thirteen children . Her childhood was challenging , as her mother died of cancer when Eloise was a child and the family split up to live with various relatives . She attended a one-room school with sixteen other children , grades one through twelve . Her favorite subject in school was geography and , as a child , she dreamed of traveling to far-away places – a dream which came true when she served as a nurse during World War II .
Following her high school graduation , Eloise worked for two years and saved the $ 75 she needed to enroll in the Bloom- ington Hospital School . She said , “ I loved nursing from day one , particularly bedside nursing .” She found surgery fascinating and , because there were no interns , each operation involved a doctor , a scrub nurse , and a circulating nurse . She recalls one day when the surgeon handed her the scalpel and said , “ You make the incision .” Eloise said that she almost dropped the scalpel . The hospital , affiliated with the City Hospital in Indianapolis , provided Eloise with her first experience of racial segregation ; blacks and whites were not allowed on the same ward .
To sErVE , To show comPassion , and To BE willing To hElP
By Bette Caldwell
Mid-way through her senior year of nursing school came the announcement of the bombing of Pearl Harbor . Nearly two years later , she was accepted into the Air Corps and headed for Basic Training in Greensboro , North Carolina . As a “ country girl ” she had never traveled more than fifty miles from home . Basic Training was rugged and unrelated to nursing or medicine . She became a member of the Army Nurse Corps and shipped out in December , 1944 to England , then later to Europe , including France , Luxembourg , Germany , Austria , and Czechoslovakia . When she was stationed in Germany she was responsible for the care of 110 wounded boys and men . Many of the soldiers were hysterical , but there were no sedatives available . Eloise chose to break all rules and sent two of her helpers to the kitchen to get sugar , cocoa , milk , beaters , and spoons . They made hot chocolate and went from bed to bed to have the soldiers mix it . They talked about home , family , and their churches . She said , “ I have never again held so many hands and listened to so many stories . God was certainly with me and my medics .”
After the war ended in 1945 , all service personnel remained in the area and traveled to various historical sites , including the German concentration camp at Buchenwald .
6