Who was Eleanor Lena Schuler Boldt, 1910-1995?

Who was Eleanor Lena Schuler Boldt, 1910-1995?

Eleanor Lena Schuler arrived 26 April 1910 at the home of her maternal grandparents in Seneca, LaSalle County, Illinois. “Eleanor” was for her maternal grandmother Laura Eleanor Armstrong, 1857-1931. “Lena” was for her paternal grandmother Lena Henrietta Baumgarten, 1842-1916. Aunt Eleanor intrigued me with stories of her first year living on a riverboat. Eleanor’s father was a pilot and her mother did the cooking for the crew. An example, for her safety, she was tethered with one end of the rope around her waist and the other end of the rope to the washing machine.

By 1912, the family lived in a home on 8^th Street in Lockport, Will County, Illinois. They lived next door to her paternal grandmother Lena Baumgarten. Eleanor’s siblings were born in Lockport; Uncle Lloyd was born in 1912, followed by Marie born in 1914 and died in 1914, followed by my mom Mildred born in 1919 and Aunt Dorothy born in 1921.

According to Eleanor, she was plagued with an inferiority complex; did she grow up feeling “tied” to something? Yet, she described her summers and Christmas holidays with her maternal grandparents in Seneca, LaSalle County, Illinois, as the “happiest time of her life.” In a college paper, she wrote about the paper dolls she received for Christmas.

Eleanor attended Lockport grade school and Lockport Township High School, 1925-1928. With her love for children, she had always planned to become a kindergarten teacher. Her feelings of inadequacy caused her to rethink her plans. She went into nursing instead.

In 1928 Eleanor entered the Silver Cross Hospital School of Nursing. Her laundry bag was made by her maternal grandmother Laura Eleanor Armstrong Couch.

Eleanor Lena Schuler became a Registered Nurse in 1932. She was Director of Nursing Arts at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, Illinois for more than 20 years. When I attended Joliet Junior College of Nursing in 1983, one of my instructors graduated from Silver Cross Hospital school of nursing with Eleanor as her instructor. “Don’t you dare ask your aunt how old I am.” Eleanor also served as a nurse in hospitals in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.

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