Faith S. Hawkins Collection

Faith Hawkins
Faith Hawkins poses outdoors in the Cadet Nurse Corps gray velour winter overcoat and gray Montgomery beret, circa 1946.
Faith Hawkins
Faith Hawkins stand outdoors in her nursing school uniform, circa 1946. Members of the Cadet Nurse Corps wore their school uniforms with shoulder patches indicating their status as Cadet Nurses.
Oral history interview with Faith Sparks Hawkins
Primarily documents Faith Sparks Hawkins's childhood in Wilkes County, North Carolina, during the Depression; her service with the Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II; and her family and nursing career after the war. Hawkins describes her childhood in the 1930s, including her mother sewing their clothes, sometimes from feed sacks; their social life and entertainment; and youth programs at her Baptist church. She also recalls hearing her grandmother talk about taking care of patients during the 1918 flu epidemic. " Hawkins then discusses nursing school at H.F. Long Hospital in Statesville, North Carolina, in the mid-1940s. She comments on the strict rules in the dormitory; spending six months in Washington, D.C., for pediatrics and obstetrics work; shift schedules; being given a lot of responsibility for patients; social life and dating; Cadet Nurse Corps hospital and dress uniforms; and her favorite songs. She also recalls having reunions with her Cadet Nurse Corps graduating class for more than fifty years. " Hawkins also describes her husband's medical career and their return to Wilkes County; her continued nursing education and nursing career; her children and their careers; the impact of the Cadet Nurse Corps and nursing on her life; and her love of nursing.
Portrait of Faith Hawkins
Portrait of Faith Hawkins, in her Cadet Nurse Corps gray winter suit and Montgomery beret, circa 1943.