File:1983 - Olivia Schilling Jaus Interview.jpg

1983 Interview

Olivia Schilling Jaus’s 89 years are well seasoned.

From the shock of white hair to each line in her worn face softly radiates a resolute satisfaction of a full life. Her keen recall of the past and philosophical acceptance of old age make her a living example for women of all ages.

In the potpourri of her life are mixed a musician, a nurse, a wife, an European traveler and retired woman. Her experience took her to many places in the United States, but family ties always brought her back to New Ulm.

She can trace her heritage back to the first settlers who homesteaded in Nicollet County on a farm near the present site of Oak Haven Trailer Court. Her grandparents were here during the Indian Uprising of 1862. They had befriended the Sioux before the Indians attacked the white settlers. In turn the Indians warned them of the approaching battle. Her relatives then traveled by wagon train to St. Peter for refuge.<ref>Olivia often related the story about how her ancestors befriended an Indian who came and warned them of the coming attach on New Ulm. The family fled the house and hid in the cornfield. They were afraid the dog would reveal their location to the Indians so they strangled the dog.</ref>

Jaus was born on June 2, 1893 and lived near New Ulm as a young child. When she was six, her mother died, and she went to live with her Aunt Minnie in Winthrop.

With the same pioneering spirit, Jaus chose nursing as a profession and became involved in nursing instruction. She taught at the New Ulm Union Hospital nursing program in the mid 1920s. She instructed the first class of registered nurses at Dallas Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas from 1929-1931. In 1942 she organized the curriculum for the Licensed Practical Nursing School just beginning at New Ulm’s Union Hospital.

Before deciding on a nursing career, she attended Pillbury Academy in Owatonna and graduated in piano forte<ref>This refers to playing the piano and study of music. There is more information available online.</ref> in 1917. She taught piano lessons for a time, but she discovered there was not much demand for her work when the United Stated was in the midst of a flu epidemic and the repercussions of World War I. “I, with my music, wasn’t needed,” she said.

Nellie Hanson, a good friend, was already a nurse and Jaus sought her opinion. Hanson reassured her that the idea was not foolish. “She encouraged me heartily to go.”

“I went wholeheartedly into nursing, and I stuck with it,” Jaus said.

A few years ago, she was honored at the graduation exercises of the New Ulm Licensed Practical Nursing School. She accepted the recognition stoically. It is nothing “to smile or smirk over,” she said. “Years have gone by and now I can talk about it.”

Jaus received her nurse's training at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Paul. After graduating in 1924, she spent one year as a special duty nurse. Then she accepted a position at the Minnesota Children’s Home Society which was then called an orphanage.

A social worker brought children to the orphanage where they stayed until adopted. The home had many residents. “We had so many little babies crawling around, “ Jaus remembered. “They were so hungry for love, I often went in and just played with them.”

There she had charge of all children under the age of five and got her first experience in nursing instruction. Because the orphanage did not have a program for special care of the children, Jaus organized a school for nurses aides and supervised their work.

In 1926 the ties to New Ulm beckoned in the form of a job offer by Miss Heidemann to teach at a newly-organized School of Nursing at Union Hospital. She accepted the job and spent the next two years teaching in New Ulm. “Then the Union Hospital seemed to be out on the prairie,” she observed.

She left New Ulm and went to Greeley, Colo., to enroll in a course concentrated at the principals of teaching in schools of nursing at Colorado State Teachers College. One of her teachers was Caroline Gray, the author of “Gray’s Physiology,” which is a classic medical textbook still used today. A personal compliment on her potential as a nursing instructor from Gray encouraged her to do well.

Moving south to Texas, Jaus became the first full-time instructor of nurses at Dallas Methodist Hospital. During her three years in Dallas, 1929 to 1931, she enrolled in extension classes at Southern Methodist University in chemistry and psychology. She also took courses in English because she thought she needed it.

Her nursing career also took her to California, but once again family ties brought her to New Ulm. The aunt who raised her was ill, and she returned to be near her.

In 1941 she married at age 48 and became a farm wife with a family of stepchildren. If she was considered to be an “old Maid,” it didn’t concern her. “I was too busy to think about it,” she said.

In 1942 she was recruited as instructor for the Practical Nursing school at Union Hospital. A shortage of nurses had given the impetus to the creation of the school. It was the second of its type in Minnesota, only Minneapolis Vocational School had a similar course. Jaus organized the curriculum by using the Minneapolis coursework as a reference. In a few years, she was succeeded by Esther Stephan; however, she continued doing private duty nursing for a time. She also coached nursing students in preparation for state board examination.

“I was always nosy,” Jaus said, revealing an almost insatiable curiosity that often gave her the incentive to learn new things and to visit foreign places. She has traveled in Europe and visited St. Thomas Hospital in London where Florence Nightingale, generally recognized as the founder of modern nursing, worked.

As Jaus approaches her 90th birthday, she has some physical limitation, but her mind is sharp. She reads Time magazine each week. She has kept a diary for more than 20 years, writing in small, key-locked volumes. There are currently five volumes of daily entries chronicling her life. “I spent hours and hours in enjoyment reading what happened,” she said. “That makes for a grand review.”

She attributes her longevity in part to mental alertness. “I always enjoyed doing things with my head,” she said.

Although she dreads entering a nursing home, she knows a long life is not trouble free. “When you get old, you have problems you don’t forsee,” she commented. “You meet it as it comes, and solve each problem as it arises.”

Sunday, May 1, 1983

source: Myrtle Jaus Meyer collection.