Lystra Gretter
Lystra Eggert was born in September 1858 in Bayfield, Canada West. She attended grade school in the Bayfield area until 1866 when her family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. It was here that Lystra began attending private schools. When she was finished with school, at the age of 19, she married a man by the name of John Birney Gretter, where she then took the name, Lystra Gretter. Her husband, John, was approximately twenty six years older and a veteran of the Confederate Army led by Robert E. Lee. In the year 1881, Lystra and John welcomed their first and only daughter, Mary. In 1884, Lystra's husband John died, leaving her to raise their three-year-old daughter alone. In 1886, Lystra moved to Buffalo, New York with her mother and sister. It was then that she began attending school at the Buffalo General Hospital Training School for Nurses. Two years later, Lystra graduated with honors, well above many students in her class. Following graduation, she was given the position of Principal of the Farrand Training School for Nurses located in Detroit, Michigan at Harper Hospital. From 1889 to 1907, she maintained the position of the Nursing School Superintendent. It was during