Vigo County Historical Society

Church flew to new heights

Ellen Church Marshall was born on a farm near Cresco, Iowa, on Sept. 22, 1904. She led a pioneering life that won her international recognition in the fields of nursing.

She was a graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. She also had a master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Chicago.

In the 1930s, while she was associated with the French hospital in San Francisco, she proposed to United Airlines the idea of having women as stewardesses on passenger flights. That is the way the "sky girls" came about on May 15, 1930. Boeing 80A had its first flight with a woman stewardess (Ellen), 15 passengers, a pilot and a co-pilot.

As an officer of the U.S. Army Nurses Corps between l942 and 1946, she served in Africa, Europe and the U.S. She served 20 months evacuating wounded soldiers from the front lines.

She was the first woman to receive the Air Medal, EAME Campaign Medal, American Theatre Campaign Medal, Victory Medal and seven Bronze Stars.

After 18 months as chief stewardess, she was grounded because of an auto accident injury but continued her activities as a registered nurse.

She became administrator of Union Hospital in Terre Haute in 1952, a tenure that ended in 1965. She instituted many progressive measures that brought full accreditation of the hospital. She improved the working conditions, added the North Wing and a modern psychiatric ward.

Her local activities were numerous. She was the president-elect of the Women’s Service League. She had been very active in the American and Indiana nurses associations, Vigo County Civil Defense Council and the Federation of Mothers Clubs of Boy Scouts, of which she was president in 1962-63. She was also a member of the Vigo County Mental Health Association, which honored her for her outstanding contributions.

In the last year of her life, she married Leonard Marshall, president of Terre Haute First National Bank. Only 11 months later, on August 27, 1965, she died from injuries suffered from a riding accident and thus ended a heroic life.

In the reception room of Union Hospital, there is a bronze plaque paying tribute to her as a humanitarian, war heroine and aviation pioneer.

She also received an "Aviation First" award.

The Ellen Church Marshall Memorial, an eight-story wing of United Airlines Stewardess Management Center near Chicago O’Hare Airport, was dedicated in her memory. United Airlines also contributed $25,000 to Union Hospital in her memory.