We have begun learning about Sharon (Johnson) McCully, who was born in Pipestone, the second of five children born to Fern (Kemnitz) and Harold Johnson. She spent her early years on the family farm near Verdi and attended Verdi Public School.

Sharon and her family left rural Verdi in December of her 6th grade year for Sycamore, Illinois, where her dad took a factory job. That move lasted almost five years. Sharon explained the family’s return to southwest Minnesota in the fall of 1955.

“My father didn’t like working in a factory; he had always been a farmer. He didn’t like living in town. And yet, when we moved back, farming was hard for him, too. It was starting to be a time when there wasn’t as much room for small farmers as there was for large farms. And there was the machinery to go with it. That was hard for my father.”

Sharon’s dad was back in his element on a farm, but farming was difficult and life on their rural Russell farm was challenging for Sharon.

“I think the thing that bothered me the most was that it didn’t have indoor plumbing. I thought that was a hardship. We had a cistern for soft water and there was a well for the hard water. And believe me, it was hard. After it sat for a couple hours, it would start turning a rust color because of the iron.” (Sharon chuckled)

Sharon finished her public school education at Russell High School, joining the junior class in the middle of fall semester 1955 and graduating with them in 1957.

“Because I hadn’t had two full years of school there at Russell, I couldn’t qualify for any of the senior honors. But they gave me the Citizenship Award.” (Sharon chuckled)

She had very specific plans following her high school graduation.

“From the time I was a very young girl I wanted to be a nurse. One reason was because I had an aunt who had been a nurse. She received her nursing education in the Army during WWII and she came to visit us wearing her Army uniform. I wanted to be like my Aunt Melba. (During) my last years of high school I knew that I was on my own as far as (further) education. So, after I graduated I worked for a year as secretary of the Russell School. I saved $1,000. The next year I went to Mankato State College. One year cost $1,000, but I hadn’t gotten into any nursing, yet. That was discouraging.”

Sharon’s folks sympathized and encouraged her to return home and the three of them visited schools in Sioux Falls.

“We did that and I took my three years of nursing school at Sioux Valley Hospital. Three years of nursing school cost $900. As our expenses came due, we went to the business office and they had an ongoing loan. When we got toward the end of our nursing (training), they called each of us in and said, “How do you plan to pay for this?” So, you are graduating from nursing school and already have this bill. Salaries weren’t very good in 1962, but I was going to the Indian reservation where the salaries for government nurses were more than working in a hospital or working in a doctor’s office. I could pay $50/mo. and that’s what I did.”

Sharon explained how she hooked up with the Indian Health Service.

“There were a number of organizations that came (to Sioux Valley) and offered opportunities. I thought that (Indian Health Service) was really wonderful and I was going to go whip those people into shape because I was next to Flo Nightingale. So I signed up and two of my classmates also went to the Rosebud Indian Reservation.”

Nursing on the Rosebud Reservation was a maturing experience for Sharon and an education in cultural awareness and nursing.

“I was still going to whup everybody into shape, but I was the one who got whupped into shape. I didn’t understand the Native Americans and their beliefs. I didn’t understand their 24-hour clock as compared to ours. I didn’t understand their family as compared to my concept of family.”

Sharon’s confidence grew as she better understood her patients’ culture and gained nursing experience.

“There was a time when I was the only nurse who could help in surgery. I’d set the room up for surgery as much as I could, then I’d go and scrub. Then it was just the doctor and I in the surgery suite. If we needed help, we went to the wall and pushed a button.”

A serious illness unexpectedly ended Sharon’s tenure at Rosebud early.

“It was just six months because there was an epidemic of infectious hepatitis. I was part of a group that went to Valentine, Nebraska, once a week on a bowling team. We ate at this truck stop and I got infectious hepatitis. It just wore me down and I was hospitalized for a while there at Rosebud. As I got better, I resigned my position and came home and recuperated.”

But Sharon explained that she still felt called to nursing and acted on that calling.

“A (nurse) friend and I packed up our stuff and went to Spokane, Washington. She had an aunt and uncle living north of Spokane and they thought that Spokane would be a nice city for us. It was.”

©2024 William D. Palmer Contact me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com with any comments about or story suggestions for “Prairie Lives.”