Helen Walton

Helen I. Walton of Carmel died June 3, 2009 at the age of 105. She was born June 10, 1903 in Oberon, North Dakota to Harry Rush and Cora Belle Baker. Her father had left from Elkhart, Indiana to homestead in the latter 1800?s and was skilled as a blacksmith. After her mother died when she was 8 years of age, the family moved to Montana where she grew up and completed her nurse?s training in Great Falls. She then moved to Denver to work as a nurse and married Charton Schreiner. They had a daughter, Shirley who died when she was 2 years old. Charton also passed away within the year; Helen then moved to the Rush hometown of Elkhart in 1935. She did some study in the new field of Public Health working as the Head of Red Cross Nursing Services and became the first fulltime school nurse. In 1942 during WW II she volunteered in response to the call for nurses to join the Army Nurse Corps. Because of her Public Health training, she was immediately made an officer and then she requested to go overseas to more directly help the soldiers. She commanded 170 nurses and set up several hospitals. She vividly remembered the casualties from the Battle of the Bulge while it raged quite near her...[more]

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spital. She also remembered getting to know some of the high ranking officers including General Omar Bradley. At the end of the war, despite being one of the highest ranking officers in the Army Nurse Corps, she elected to leave the military and return to her real love of school nursing. After the war she also attended Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1946. Ultimately she further acquired a Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan. In 1955 she married L. Richard Walton and adopted his two sons Robert and Steven. She served as superintendent of school nurses until retirement in 1966. Her memberships included the Altrusa Club, Business and Professional Woman, American Nurses Association, Retired Teachers Association on the local and state level, and Married Women?s Club. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Charton Schreiner, second husband, L. Richard Walton; son, Steven Walton; brother, Jesse Rush; sisters, Mildred Songer and Aimee Hiebert. Survivors include son, Robert Walton, MD (Roberta), daughter, Shirley Wietnik, son, Dr. Richard E. Walton (Sharon); daughter in law, Laura Marasco and niece, Alice Stillwell (Robert); 10 grandchildren; 14 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandson. Family and friends will gather on Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. in Leppert Mortuary, Smith Carmel Chapel where the funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Please visit www.leppertmortuary.com where you may sign the guestbook, share a memory or make a memorial contribution to St. Vincent Foundation for The Center for Healthy Aging, 8402 Harcourt Road Ste. 210, Indianapolis, IN 46260. The family would like to acknowledge the fine and loving care provided by the staffs of CrownPointe and Hoosier Village under the direction of Dr. Patrick Healey.