Oregon women served as nurses for the United States Army and Navy as well as for supporting organizations such as the Red Cross. Some worked in France and other war torn countries while others served at military camps in the United States. Farmer William McKern and his wife, Edna, saw their 20 year old daughter named Enid off from home near Mt. Vernon in rugged Grant County to start her new life as a nurse. She had heard about the government's call for nurses and had dreamed about foreign service. So, on a fall day in 1918, after enlisting with a friend in Canyon City, she began her preparation in the United States Student Nurse Reserve. The reserve assigned her to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Baker [now Baker City]. Once in Baker, Enid began her studies and training. But within a few days, while helping patients, she was stricken with Spanish Influenza. The hospital informed Enid's parents and her mother soon arrived from Mt. Vernon. But Enid developed pneumonia and, after a total of nine days, she died. Her father arrived at the hospital just after she passed away. The family returned her body to Mt. Vernon where she received a military funeral, another victim of the flu epidemic raging throughout the state. She was eulogized as a "big, strong, fine looking girl" who offered her life and died "while serving others that this world might be better."
