05/25/2026
Mabel Riber
Army Nurse Corps
World War I
Mabel Riber was born on the 21st of February, 1899 in Ruskin to Nels and Mary Ann Riber. She was the third of seven children and her grandfather, Wilhelm Riber, was one of the earliest settlers of the county and one of the first five in Spring Creek, having come with a group of Danish immigrants in 1870. She grew up on the family farm and likely attended the school that had been built by her grandfather. The school was officially District 91 but was known as the Riber School in honor of Wilhelm. In fact the school was so close to the Riber home that when Mabel was 5 the teacher was boarding with her family. The Riber family also attended church at the school house and Mabel likely grew up bilingual as the sermons and Sunday school lessons were given in Danish.
Mabel’s childhood was filled with box luncheons, spelling bees and school Christmas programs but it was not without its difficulties. Although life was not as hard or dangerous for her as it would have been for her grandfather's generation, she still faced many hardships that are virtually unheard of in modern times. One of her school mates died of diphtheria causing a week-long closure of the school to prevent the deadly disease from spreading. Another classmate, John Noblitt, died of a skin infection at the age of just 8. Her oldest sister Agnes required an operation to remove her appendix and only a year later Mabel would undergo the same operation herself. Perhaps it was witnessing all this suffering and seeing the “miracle of modern medicine” in her own life that inspired her to apply for training as a nurse. Or perhaps she felt a patriotic duty, we cannot say for sure.
The Riber School went only to the 8th grade and we can find no records of Mabel attending high school but unlike today nursing school back then did not necessarily require a diploma. An ad from the newspaper at the time read, “A couple of good steady girls of about 18 years old are wanted at the Blue Valley Hospital to learn nursing. Reading and writing much preferred.” So after finishing her schooling Mabel responded to the call and went into training.
The Blue Valley Hospital in Hebron had been founded only a few years earlier in 1909 by Dr. Boyes. The good doctor was a native of Hebron and had been practicing some time in that town before founding the hospital. His goal was to offer the most up to date treatments and surgical techniques in a modern and sanitary setting. One of the first additions to the hospital was a bath house, offering the public the opportunity to experience indoor plumbing and fresh running mineral water. A description of the building states “As you enter the door on the west you are ushered into large reception rooms, on the right and left, with toilet rooms and shower baths. Here you make ready for the plunge by removing your clothes and partaking of a fine shower bath of hot and cold water. After your shower you don your bathing clothes and start for the plunge on the east side of the building. This is large and roomy and will accommodate a score or more people with ease. The water is supplied from a purely mineral well and the baths will all be of mineral waters. The water of the plunge is about three feet deep on the west end and drops to ten feet on the east. Here is hung horizontal bars, ropes and other playthings for the boys and girls, and you sure will have a fine time in this model institution.”
The hospital continued to expand and by the time Mabel applied to become a nurse it was recognized as one of the finest establishments in the area. Her training would have been intense. At that time nurses in training were expected to work grueling shifts up to 12 hours and received no pay, although their room and board were provided. They were also expected to attend classes in addition to their long hours on the floor and curfews were strictly enforced, however it's doubtful they had enough energy left at the end of the day to get into much trouble.
The Great War had been raging for some time but the United States did not become involved until April of 1917. Within a month the Deshler Rustler was reporting “Dr. J.H. Boyes of Hebron has offered his large and well-kept Blue Valley hospital for the use of the government as a base hospital and has himself offered his services as a member of the medical reserve.” Although you wouldn't think a small town hospital would resemble war-torn Europe in any way, the injuries being treated were surprisingly similar. During the time Mabel was training, 12 year old John Brauer came in with a gunshot wound to the knee. He had been accidentally shot by a playmate. Another case involved Paul Thiemann whose hand was caught in a corn shredder, an injury that would have been reminiscent of a mortar or shrapnel wound. As Mabel was nearing the end of her training Dr. Boyes, who was now Lieutenant Boyes, was offering his services to the Surgeon General “whereby the young men of the draft army in Group D, Class One may be cured of remedial defects and fitted for military and naval service without expense to themselves.”
Then, at the end of September, 1918, Dr. Boyes and seven nurses got their call to report to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia for training and deployment. Unfortunately this plan was derailed by the illness of Dr. Boyes. He had come down with Spanish flu and was quickly incapacitated. He died in his own hospital on October 22nd. Unfortunately for Mabel she had also contracted the dreaded disease and could not ship out with the rest of her nursing class. She would die of pneumonia on October 31, 1918, the day the rest of her nursing class was leaving for Georgia. The other nurses did not escape unscathed either. The Hebron Journal reported “Five of the nurses formerly of the Blue Valley Hospital, Edith Choleher, Vida Jewell, Adella Neugobauer, Lillian Franzen, Viva Scholle, who went to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., Oct. 31– were taken immediately ill with the influenza. Miss Jewell contracted pneumonia … Miss Susie Murchi was the only one of the six nurses who was able to report for duty when arriving at the fort.” Luckily the rest were able to recover and by then the war had come to an end.
Approximately one third of the deaths tallied in World War I were from disease. Mabel was not included in that count. She did not spend time on the front lines, she did not even get within a thousand miles of the fighting. But still she was prepared to go to war and serve her country, without the rank or recognition of even a private and at half the pay. She died at the age of 19, doing her best to save lives and help in the war effort, and that is good enough. She deserves to be remembered and honored. Thank you for your service nurse Riber.
