GRACE CROSBY POWER.
The city of Atchison is fortunate in having as the present superintendent of the city hospital a lady of talent and ability, which, combined with great personal charm, constitute a splendid equipment for the important position which Miss Power holds. She is eminently qualified by training and executive capacity to perform the exacting duties required of a hospital superintendent, and she is fast becoming deservedly popular among the people of Atchison, who support this justly famous institution.
Grace Crosby Power is a native of Indiana, born October 23, 1880, in the town of Milroy, Rush county, and is a daughter of William Strange and Mary E. (Crosby) Power. Her father was also a native of Rush county, Indiana, born in 1837, a son of an Indiana pioneer family. His parents were John A. and Mary A. (Smisor) Power, both of whom were natives of Germany and Scotland, respectively. They immigrated to America from Germany in an early day, and cleared a farm from the dense wilderness of Rush county by dint of hard labor and the exercise of fortitude. This German-American couple had the satisfaction of gaining a substantial competence from the soil and of bequeathing a good family of sons and daughters to their adopted land. William Power was one of the first fine live stock breeders of Rush county, and his farm became famous for the Hambletonian horses which it produced. He died in 1906 in his home town, Milroy. His wife, Mary, was born in Milroy, Ind., in 1837, a daughter of Michael and Lucinda Crosby, natives of Ireland, and also early settlers of Rush county, Indiana. The Powers were all members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have been prominent in the affairs of Rush county for many years. William Power was one of the well-to-do men of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. William Power were born four children: Cora Estelle, wife of Prof. E. F. Engel, of Lawrence, Kan.; Kathrine, wife of Rev. W. F. Smith, of the Methodist church, at Huntington, Ind.; Frank A., Wichita, Kan., a director of the Power-Myers music house; Miss Grace Crosby Power, with whom this review is directly concerned.
Miss Power received her elementary education in the public schools of Milroy, Ind., and afterwards entered DePauw University, at Greencastle, Ind., where she pursued a music course for two years. She then came to Kansas and studied in the liberal arts department of Kansas University, at Lawrence. While her original intention had been to perfect herself in art and music, she became imbued with the idea of becoming a nurse, feeling that a wider field was offered in the art of caring for the sick, and that she could be of greater service to humanity. Accordingly, Miss Power entered the University Medical Hospital of Kansas City, Mo., in 1905, and began the studies which were to prepare her for her life work as a hospital nurse. She applied herself diligently to her medical studies and was graduated from the Kansas City institution in 1908. She was then offered the position of superintendent of the Galesburg, Ill., hospital, and accepted, remaining there until 1911. She was not yet satisfied with her professional preparation, and resigning her position, she spent one year in Europe, traveling and studying the methods in vogue in the hospitals of the old world. Returning to Kansas City in 1912, she was employed by Drs. Jabez and Jackson, of that city, in a professional capacity, until she was called to her present post, September 29, 1915. Since taking charge of the Atchison City Hospital, she has given every evidence of being eminently fitted for the duties of her position and calling. Miss Power is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is affiliated with the A. X. U. sorority, of DePauw University.