On my way home from Springfield last Friday, I attended the Western Illinois University ROTC Commissioning ceremony. Six of the twelve Cadets in the 2025 class were commissioned. The remaining six are scheduled later.
Congratulations and thank you to the newly commissioned Second Lieutenants as they begin their military careers.
Over the weekend I attended the 21st Annual Nurses Week Convocation and Remembrance Service at the Mother Bickerdyke Memorial Statue on the Knox County Courthouse lawn. We were instructed to place a white rose in the vase at the foot of Mother Bickerdyke Memorial statue in memory of a nurse. After placing the rose we announced who our rose was placed for.
Mine was placed in honor of Ruth Dahlberg Taylor. She was a 1942 graduate of Moline Lutheran nursing school. She served as a nurse in the US Army during WWII and later went on to serve as the school nurse at Cambridge schools. She also served at many Lutheran youth summer camps, church nurse and a member of Andover American Legion Post 465.