Hilda

By Jen

One of my favorite family members is Hilda Josephine Jensen. She was my great grandfather's sister and was born in 1881 in Dakota Territory to Norwegian immigrants and died in 1970 in South Dakota at the age of 89. She homesteaded as a single woman in the early 1900s, became a nurse in Germany in WWII, traveled alone by train and just generally lived the life of a modern, independent woman.

Hilda Jensen's nursing school graduation photo

Here is a postcard she sent to her mother in Norwegian from when she was in nursing school in 1917 in Sioux City, Iowa.

1917 postcard from Nurse Hilda to her mother Ingeborg

With my limited Norwegian, it basically says -

"I don't have a birthday card because I haven't been around for so long, but I'm sending you something to wish you a happy birthday. I am healthy as usual. There seems to be a lot of sick people, the hospital is full all the time. Wishing everyone good health. Hilda"