Mary Sewall Gardner
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Mary Sewall Gardner (February 5, 1871 – February 20, 1961)[1] was an American nurse who is best known for her work in public health. She established the National Organization for Public Health Nursing, now called the National League of Nursing, and wrote the first public health textbook for nurses, Public Health Nursing. For her accomplishments, she was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1986.[2]
Mary Sewall Gardner was born on February 5, 1871, in Newton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Mary (Thornton-Davis-Gardner).[1][3] Gardner had one older brother, Charles Thornton Davis, from her mother's previous marriage to Dr. Davis. She grew up in Providence, Rhode Island.[3] Her mother died when she was four years old.[1]
Her father remarried Sarah Davis, daughter to Judge Isaac Davis. Her father was a judge in Superior Court of Massachusetts and heavily influenced her towards civic responsibility and a logical and rational manner of thinking.[1] Gardner attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, and graduated in 1890.[3]
After her father's death, the family moved to Providence, Rhode Island where Gardner enrolled in Newport Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1901.[1] She graduated in 1905 at around the age thirty.[2]
