It is perhaps fitting that the University of Washington’s fifty-eighth and final Gold Star honors its only female casualty, Jeanette Virginia Barrows. Jeanette died of pneumonia on March 15, 1919, at Fort Snelling in Minnesota. Unlike so many other of the UW’s other Gold Stars, Jeanette’s death was not related to influenza.
The older of two daughters born to William A. Barrows and his wife, Ella Tanger, Jeanette was born and raised in Chinook, Washington. Her father was a political cartoonist for the Chinook Observer and her mother was the town’s longtime postmaster. From her father she inherited a talent for sketching and cartooning. Jeanette entered the UW in 1916, following two years of study at Bellingham State Normal School (now Western Washington University), graduating with a degree in education in 1918. While at the UW, Jeanette was a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority and a scholarship is awarded in her honor annually.
After graduating, Jeanette spent the following summer at Reed College training for work as a Reconstruction Aide. Reed College was the only west coast site for Reconstruction Aides which had two courses of study: physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Physiotherapy was aimed at helping wounded soldiers regain the use of lost or impaired functions through remedial exercise and massage. Occupational therapy was designed to aid returned soldiers in their recovery through vocational training. (bit.ly/reed_barrows)
Following completion of her training, Jeanette was sworn into service to the United States on October 24, 1918 and was sent directly to New York. While in New York waiting overseas orders Armistice was signed. A month later she was ordered to US Army General Hospital No. 29 at Fort Snelling to assist in the care of the wounded returned from France. Jeanette died after an illness of only four days and was buried at Ilwaco Cemetery with full military honors. (bit.ly/uw_barrows)