History Column: Elsie Scott, Legendary Public Health Nurse

Contributed Photo/The San Juan Historical Society and Museum. Elsie Hope Scott in 1924. Photo and nursing cap in the San Juan Historical Society & Museum collections.

From the San Juan Historical Society and Museum

It’s Women’s History Month and the tradition of this history column is to feature a person or organization in keeping with the topic. This year, in recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, the United Nations has chosen the theme of “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.”

Locally, conversations once centering on ferry reservations have largely been replaced by those about vaccination clinics. This, no doubt, will be a local history topic itself in the faraway future. But today, there is an obvious choice for this month’s column. It is Elsie Scott, San Juan County public health nurse from 1938 to the 1960s, remembered fondly today by many who knew her. She is pictured above as a graduate of Seattle’s Minor Hospital Nursing School in 1924.

Elsie’s story is a long and noteworthy one, covered expertly in a HistoryLink.org essay by Lynn Weber/Roochvarg. We invite you to think of this month’s history column as a short introduction to nurse Scott and our way to honor her and those in the public health field in general. If you find this column interesting, just wait until you read Lynn’s HistoryLink essay!

Elsie Hope Scott was born on November 6, 1898 in Goodnight, Texas. She was one of four daughters, all born in Texas, to John and Annie Millie Scott, immigrants from Ireland. The family relocated to Wenatchee, Washington in 1908, after a lengthy return to Ireland in order to settle Mrs. Scott’s estate. It was also a time for Elsie’s older sisters to advance their musical studies in Europe. Elsie’s father returned to Wenatchee ahead of his family to purchase a ranch just outside of town.

From the Wenatchee Daily World, Dec. 26, 1908:

“Mrs. John Scott and three children and governess, Miss Beggs of Dublin, Ireland arrived here Thursday…The Scott family are highly cultured, and there are great musicians in the family.”

This return to the U.S. had begun earlier in December for Elsie (almost 11), her sisters Kathleen and Annabel, and their mother when their second-class passage was booked on the White Star Line’s steamship Celtic from Queenstown, Ireland to New York City.

After high school graduation, on to Seattle for nursing school, and followed by general nursing work, Elsie found the program and field that would be her passion for the rest of her life. The Public Health Program at the University of Washington was a perfect match for her affinity to community health and she graduated from this program in 1928. For the next ten years she worked in public health in different rural counties in Washington, then on to Alaska before coming to the San Juans in 1938.

The girl from a charmed childhood with a governess and international travel would now be known as the only public health nurse in this county of remote islands and challenging transportation. Elsie used every method available to answer emergency calls, from Coast Guard cutters to flights by Roy Franklin and other pilots. And if you saw her car speeding on the road, it was best to clear the way.

Her first work was with Dr. Thomas Judge until his retirement in 1950 and then with Dr. Malcolm Heath, but Elsie worked best as a public health nurse who also had her own practice. No island within San Juan County was too remote for her care and attention. In 1947, CBS Radio produced a docu-drama titled “Lantern in the Dark” based on her work in the San Juans. Some here thought it was a little heavy on the remote qualities of island communities, approaching the “primitive.” Nonetheless, it honored the dedication of this now legendary rural nurse and our county’s public health programs.

Public health education was always in Miss Scott’s heart and in her deeds. She never met an unvaccinated child she didn’t want to sit down and vaccinate against diphtheria, smallpox, and then polio in the 1960s. And then quiz them about hygiene.

Elsie Scott died in Friday Harbor on September 27, 1983, after living in her cottage at Kwan Lamah for about 40 years. The islands had been her home longer than anywhere else in her long life. She is buried in Wenatchee with her parents and two of her sisters. If you have something to share about Miss Scott, please do so. The San Juan Historical Society and Museum can add to her life story.

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