Leora B. Stroup Papers

Leora Belle Stroup was born in Windham, Ohio, on January 15, 1901. She received her Registered Nurse degree from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Western Reserve University in 1923, her Bachelor of Science degree in Education with a Certificate in Public Health Nursing from Ohio State University in 1927, her Master of Arts in Education Administration from Western Reserve University in 1939, and her Master of Arts in Nursing Education from Columbia University in 1954. She continued her post-graduate work at the Columbia University Teachers College and Bellevue Hospital Rehabilitation Center for a Doctor of Education degree, completing all but the dissertation. She earned her pilot's license in 1939.

From 1937 to 1942, Stroup taught in pilot programs at the Michigan Department of Vocational Education and Wayne University. In 1942, Stroup joined the Army Nurse Corps and created an Air Evacuation Nursing School at Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky, where she taught until 1944. She would later say of this period, "I am the first nurse in the world to teach Air Evacuation Flight Nursing." More than 1500 nurses trained by Stroup served in Europe, Africa, Italy, India, and the Pacific during World War II.

She continued to serve as a Major in the Army Nurse Corps and as an Air Force nurse in the Pacific Theater until 1946. From 1946-1947, Stroup served as a consultant nurse for the U.S. Military Government in Korea, where she cared for patients during a cholera epidemic in Pusan and assisted with the establishment of nursing schools. Returning to civilian life in 1947, she served on the Michigan Board of Education in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1948-1951. From 1951-1952, Stroup worked part-time as a staff nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. In 1952, she served as a director for a summer workshop for clinical instructors in Colorado.

In 1952, Stroup was recruited to develop a nursing education program at Fort Hays Kansas State College. She began her career at Fort Hays State on August 25, 1952, as Professor of Nurse Education and Head of the Department of Nurse Education. At the time, Stroup served as the only faculty member in the department, which consisted of three courses and sixteen students. Stroup would later be promoted to Chair of the Division of Nurse Education, which was renamed the Department of Nursing in 1969. During her tenure, she helped organize the annual Tommy Drum's Saloon fundraiser for nursing scholarships at the Hays Sidewalk Bazaar. She retired from Fort Hays Kansas State College in May 1971.

On June 13, 1981, Stroup Hall was dedicated in her honor. Leora B. Stroup died on February 13, 1985. In 2000, the Leora B. Stroup Nursing Scholarship was established in her honor.