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Note: Freda graduates from UC Berkeley with an MS in Nursing on June 17, 1955 March 18, 1936 The Lewiston Journal To Head Rockefeller Inst. Nursing School in Greece Miss Freda Stratos, R.N., a former local girl who was sent to Greece last fa by the Rockefeller Institute, to work at their foundation in Athens, is now doing some special work at the American Red Cross Hospital in that historic city and becoming acquainted with the customs there. When the Rockefeller Foundation Children's hospital, which is being erected next door to the Red Cross hospital, is completed, Miss Stratos is to be head of the Nursing School. She is well fitted for this position, being a graduate of Simmons College and the Boston Lying-In Hospital School of Nursing and having served as assistant superintendent of nurses in the blind children's department of the Boston Children's Hospital prior to accepting the appointment to go to Athens. Miss Stratos' mother, Mrs. Anna Stratos, accompanied her on this trip, this being the first time she has returned to Greece since she came to Lewiston as a bride 31 years ago. Miss Stratos has a sister and a brother in Lewiston, Mrs. Stanley Frangedakis of Webster St. and Nick Stratos of Holland street. The Lowell Sun. Thursday, February 15, 1945 Aided in Developing Public Health Program of Honolulu Lowell - An exciting three-year service career and a promising future is the contribution of the Army Nurse corps to the life of Freda Stratos Hanelt, formerly of this city, and now visiting at the home of her sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Georges of 235 Wentworth Ave. It all began in June of 1941 when Freda joined the Army Nurse Corps. It was a hop-skip-and-a-jump from Westover Field to the west coast when war was declared. The following June, this young nurse, who had received her medical education at The Children's Hospital in Boston, found herself in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she assisted the Hawaiian authorities in the public health program of the city. When she arrived in Honolulu, Freda was in a detached service, working to help combat the dengue fever epidemic which, though comparatively mild in nature, might become very serious, because of its debilitizing effect, and long convalescent period. Her more specific hospital duties were in the psychiatric wards, nursing the casualties from the great island battles. "I learned a lot about human nature from those poor boys," she says, "Each had his own story and his own problems of adjustment, and it certainly was a thrill to be able to comfort them and care for them." It was in Honolulu that Miss Stratos met and fell in love with Major Leslic L.C. Hanelt of the army's chemical warfare department. On May day last, which is known as "lei day" in Hawaii, they were married at the officer's club. (Val's note here: they were married at St. Andrew's Episcopal church and had the reception at the officers' club.) "Honolulu is a very cosmopolitan city," says Mrs. Hanelt, "and all groups there seem to get along famously. I have never seen such co-operation and intermingling anywhere else. Especially is this true of the Negroes and the Hawaiians...And the climate is quite ideal all year around. Although once in a while we yearn for the sight of a little snow." Mrs. Hanelt arrived in Lowell last Thursday evening during our big blizzard here, and we guess that, by now, she has seen enough snow for a while. In discussing the living conditions on the islands, Freda says that there is no rationing; but things are so expensive that it evens up in the end. Flying over the Pacific from Honolulu to California, in just 12 hours in a C-54 was a trip that Mrs. Hanelt will never forget. She spent a month in California at the home of her husband's parents (Val: actually Hennylotte's parents - Oscar and Gretchen Busse who were raising Bobby after the death of his mother) and with her blond, blue-eyed four year old step-son Robert Leslie, whom she has brought to Lowell with her. Mrs. Hanelt is awaiting her honorable discharge from the army to devote her life to the career of wife and mother. Just before she left Hawaii, her husband had been sent to another island. However, she hopes to see him this spring, when he will return here through the army rotation plan. In Lowell, Freda is well-known in Greek American circles. A graduate of Lowell High School and the Boston Children's hospital school of nursing, she worked with Miss Nora Rowell, superindendent of the Lowell Visiting Nurse association. In 1935, through the request of the Rockefeller foundation, she went to Greece to establish a school of nursing there and to design an infants ward. Graduated from Boston Lying In Hospital (Children's Hospital) July 27, 1934. Retired from Albany Unified 12/31/68 Retired from Anderson Valley School district 3/1/1971 SF News call Bulletin Banc Pic 1959.90 Neg Part 2 Box 69 58552.02 June 3 1942 Bancroft Library collection (photo of Freda in group) - get
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