Josephine Steiner Barger papers

Josephine Steiner was born in Bluffton, Ohio, in 1913 to Dr. Josiah and Augusta Steiner. Her father served in the medical branch of the Army in World War I. She was raised as a Mennonite and graduated from Bluffton High School and Bluffton College in 1930 and 1932, respectively. In 1934 Steiner earned her B.A. degree from Ohio University. She then attended Yale School of Nursing, where she received a Master of Nursing degree in 1938. When World War II began, Steiner joined the 39th General Hospital, a medical unit which was formed of Yale graduates. She served the war effort in New Zealand, Saipan, and Guadalcanal. From 1946 to 1949 Steiner was superintendent of nurses at Lake Maracaibo Hospital in Venezuela. She returned to the United States in 1949 and earned a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1951. Steiner later became superintendent of nurses and director of nursing at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1952 she married Dr. James D. Barger; thereafter they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bargers had two children, Michael Thomas and Mary Elizabeth, and also adopted James D., Jr. and Mary Susan. Barger died in 1971.