Ericksen, Theresa (1868–1943)

After graduating from Northwestern Hospital’s School of Nursing in 1894, Theresa Ericksen led a life of service as a healer, teacher, and promoter of public health and nursing education. Her legacy has ties to the Minnesota Nursing Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Christmas Seals, and Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Ericksen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1868. Orphaned at age six, she travelled with her uncle and aunt to destinations as far away as China and Japan before moving to Minnesota around 1880. She graduated from St. Paul’s Northwestern Hospital’s nursing school in the early 1890s, then quickly made her mark. In 1898, she and seven other nurses formed the Ramsey County Nurses Association (later renamed the Minnesota Nurses Association).

In the same year, Ericksen volunteered as a contract nurse for the U.S. Army and served at Sternberg Army Hospital in Georgia. She later volunteered for service overseas in the Philippines in support of Minnesota’s 13th Volunteer Regiment. After taking her oath of service at the Presidio in San Francisco, she served as a Regular Army Nurse and the regiment’s only female member.

Due to a shortage of nurses overseas, Ericksen remained in the Philippines longer than any of her fellow servicemen and women. After returning to the United States in 1901, she volunteered again for service as a dietitian in 1904. She worked at the U.S. Army’s main hospital in Manila until 1905.

In 1918, Ericksen returned to the Twin Cities. There, she served in dual roles as Anoka County’s Public Health Nurse and the City of Anoka’s High School Nurse. During America’s involvement in World War I, Ericksen once again served overseas in France. Her first job involved treating casualties behind the lines near Chateau-Thierry. Following an Allied offensive, Ericksen briefly worked at an orphanage and later at an Army Hospital caring for soldiers who fell ill with influenza. She returned home in 1919.

After World War I, Ericksen resumed work in public health, fighting tuberculosis in what she called her “fourth war.” Her longstanding advocacy for buying Christmas Seals to fund research in finding a cure for the disease culminated in a public ceremony in 1936. She became the first woman to receive Public Health’s Distinguished Service Award, presented to her by the famed Mayo Brothers.

From 1926 until 1936, Ericksen served as superintendent of St. Paul’s Pleasant Day Nursery. While providing a safe, healthy, and structured environment for children, she acted on behalf of servicemen too debilitated from gas injuries to work or care for their families. Many men had been denied benefits from the government.

Ericksen served many veterans' groups during her career. In addition to the 13th and 17th Minnesota Volunteer Regimental Associations, she worked for the United States War Veterans, the American Legion, and, until 1921, the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

While visiting a comrade on the grounds of the Veterans’ Home in Minneapolis in 1933, Ericksen injured herself on an icy walkway. Her injury required surgery and long-term rehabilitation. F. W. Pederson, the commandant of the facility and a fellow veteran, recommended that she recuperate in a warmer climate, but it remains unknown whether Ericksen left Minnesota.

Mindful of her age and condition, Pederson asked where Ericksen wished to be buried if something dire occurred. She requested Fort Snelling Military Cemetery. Such a request, however, was impossible to meet, because the cemetery was reserved only for active service members attached to the post.

Acting as Ericksen’s advocate, Pederson took the issue to state representatives. Together, they successfully lobbied for the creation of the state’s first National Cemetery. When the cemetery was completed in 1940, it benefitted not only Ericksen but a growing number of veterans from America’s recent conflicts.

After her 1933 injury forced her into early retirement, Ericksen remained active, serving as a delegate to veterans’ organizations. She proved to be popular with the news media and received many letters from fellow veterans who recalled her devotion to duty.

Ericksen died on August 31, 1943, and was laid to rest at Fort Snelling National Cemetery to the sound of taps and a twenty-one-gun salute on September 2. Her grave is in section A, block 11, grave 1884.