Gillespie, Illinois - Mamie Birk Biography

G i l l e s p i e Gillespie, Illinois - Macoupin County Illinois, - State of Illinois - United States Of America

Photographs and Documents for this page
were furnished by : Carol Ries

Mary "Mamie" (nee BIRK) RIES
1912 - 1976

Mamie Birk was born in 1912 in Radley Kansas.
The daughter of Mary and Matthew Birk.

Note : Names being what they are and what each chooses, along with spelling errors; abound for Mamie Birk, whose given first name of "Mary" was dropped in favor of "Mamie". Many of her school records and other public documents show the "Birk" surname spelled as "Burke". Newspapers have used "Kirk" spelling instead of the proper "Birk".

Her father was killed in a coal mining accident when she was a toddler
and her mother later married John Rugel and moved to
900 North Clinton Street in Gillespie, Illinois.

			Mamie Birk, of Gillespie Public School District No. 132, is awarded this Certificate for One Hundred Perfect Lessons in Sixth Grade Spelling April 2, 1926

Mamie Birk graduated from the Eighth Grade at
Gillespie Public Grade School on May 14, 1926

Once again her name was spelled as "Burke"

On April 6, 1928, Mamie Birk, of Gillespie
received Certificate No. 36766
for taking training in First Aid
and satisfactorily passing the test prescribed by the
Department of Mines and Minerals

	Mamie Birk Typist's Certificate for 41 words per minute Gillespie Commercial School Gillespie, Illinois January 14, 1929

newspaper clipping The nineteenth birthday anniversary of Miss Mamie Birk was the occassion of a surprise party in her honor Saturday evening. Miss Mamie Franconi, Benld; Martin Collins, Gillespie; and Louis Miketich, Springfield, furnished music for the dancing during the evening.

She graduated from Gillespie Community High School on May 29, 1930

and then moved to Chicago to attend nursing school at Ravenswood School for Nurses.

     Mamie, in her nursing uniform,

      is pictured here with her mother and step-father

      John Rugel - Mary Rugel - Mamie Birk

In 1944 to 1946 she was a second Lieutenant in the 101st General Army Hospital as a Red Cross Nurse.

newspaper clipping from
"The Gillespie News"

LT. Mary Birk
Lt. Mary Birk, daughter of Mrs. John Rugel, is an army nurse now stationed in England where she has been for the past three months. She is attached to the 101st General Hospital. Lt. Birk graduated from Ravenswood School for Nurses at Chicago in 1936 and remained there as a nurse for eight years previous to her enlistment in June. She sends greetings to all her friends

newspaper clipping from
"The Gillespie News"

Gillespie Nurse In
Overseas Hospital       Second Lieutenant Mary ~~Kirk~~ [Birk], 32, daughter of Mrs. Rugel, of Gillespie, Illinois, has helped to establish for the 101st United States Army general hospital in Emgland a record of no post-operative infections out of the hundreds of operations performed here on wounded soldiers. She is a nurse in the surgery section, on of a group of nurse and enlisted technician who assist skilled army surgeons.
      The surgery section, Lt. ~~Kirk~~ [Birk] pointed out has eight operstion theaters, and at times all of them are being used simultaneously. In emergencies 10 theaters can be pressed into use.
      "The majority of our operations are performed in the morning," she said. "we use the the afternoons to prepare for the next morning's work. I'm responsiblefor having all supplies and seeing that the proper instruments for each type of operation are laid out. everything must be in readiness for the surgeon when he begins his work. Occasionally I circulate around the operating room, removing any contaminated items, bringing in sterile dressings, sponges, and instruments. We cannot allow the chain of sterile technique to be broken."
      The soldiers who have come to this hospital have fought from the Normandy beaches to the Siegfried Line.

Lt. Birk, who was graduated from the Ravenswood Hospital School of Nursing, Chicago, in 1936, has been in the Army Nurse Corps for eight months.

She was married in 1949 and had one daughter.
Mamie returned at least 2 times a year to Gillespie, IL. to visit her Mother.
She attended her 40th High School reunion as well as her Army reunion.
See : G C H S Class of 1930

Mamie (nee Birk) RIES died in 1976 after a extended illness.

Photographs and Documents for this page
were furnished by : Carol Ries

Return to : Gillespie, IL.