Vowell, Arvella Bentley

Arvella Bentley Vowell was born in 1904 in Arkansas, the fifth of twelve children. At six months old, Vowell and her family moved to the Texas town of Troy (Bell County, Tex.), and later to Rockwood (Coleman County, Tex.) She had an early interest in nursing, beginning in her childhood. Raised in a large family, Vowell saw the need to assist her mother with the younger children. Out of this experience came a strong desire to care for those in need.

In 1929, Vowell, a widowed mother of two young children, began the three-year nurses training program at Sealy Hospital in Santa Anna, Texas. After becoming a registered nurse in 1933, she moved with her children to San Antonio and began working full-time as a nurse. Over the span of Vowell's 44-year career, she served as a school nurse, private nurse, psychiatric nurse and polio nurse. In addition, she was a visiting nurse at Kelly Field during World War II, a health nurse at Trinity University and a staff nurse at Nix Hospital.

Upon retirement in 1976, Vowell was named historian of Chapter 8 of the Texas Nurses Association, the oldest professional nursing association in Texas. She began, what started as a bicentennial project, to compile the history of District 8 from its inception. She served as historian of the Aurora Residents' Association during the early 1980s at the Aurora Apartments Building, where she had resided since its restoration and re-opening in 1981. Vowell was also an outspoken proponent of women's rights. In 1994 the San Antonio Women's History Coalition presented her with its annual Outstanding Contribution to San Antonio Women's History Award. Vowell died in 1997 at the age of 93.

Sources:

Finklea Young, Gaylon. Nurse Traces History of District 8. The Sunday Express-News, San Antonio 17 May 1981: 4E.

Pisano, Marina, Nursing Pioneer Vowell is Dead. San Antonio Express-News, 23 July 1997: 3B.

West, Tommy. History of Caring. San Antonio Express-News Magazine, 15 Aug. 1993: 8+.

From the guide to the Arvella Bentley Vowell Nurses Collection MS 6., 1943-1994, (University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections)