Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Sunday, May 11, 2008

Jennie (Retterath) Bush: 'More than just a mom'

It was the spring of 1945; prisoners of war (World War II) had been freed, and were now being sent to VA hospitals all over the county. Army nurses had the job to bring them back to health after horrific conditions.

One such nurse was Elizabeth (Betty) Barnes, from Burlington, Iowa. As an officer in the Army, she was stationed at the VA Hospital in Clinton, Iowa, taking charge of a very sick POW that had just returned to the U.S. He was a shell of his former self, she could see from his military papers.

As she nursed him back to health, he started endearing himself to her. But he was an enlisted man, she an officer. They could not “fraternize.” As they grew closer, she went through his pockets and papers to see if he was married or had a special girl back home in North Dakota. It appeared not.

So, in order to help him “get well,” she’d take him down to the Mississippi to watch the river go by. The water calmed him; helped his body and soul heal. As he grew stronger, they fell in love. Betty bargained with God, if He’d let this man live, she would take care of him the rest of their lives.

The met in the spring of ’45 and were married Oct. 24, 1945. Her patient died Sept. 3, 2004, just shy of their 59th wedding anniversary. Their parents said it would never last.

And now it comes full circle. Betty has recently moved out of her longtime home and into an apartment. She doesn’t need nursing care like she provided for that soldier, yet each of her five children know how to care for her. They learned by example, the best kind of mothering. She is more than just a mom; she is MY mom.

— Jeannie (Retterath) Bush, La Crosse