52 Ancestors 2025: Week 36 "Off to Work"

 For some, Labor Day might be better known as the unofficial end of summer, but it is more than an extra day off from work. It is an opportunity to recognize those laborers who work tirelessly. The tireless occupations of our relatives were primarily in agriculture, but some found work outside of this sector. This is the story of Lois Waltz Metz Vos’ road to becoming a nurse. 

Lois G. Waltz Metz Vos in her nurse uniform
on the grounds at Battle Creek Sanitarium, Michigan
1918

Lois G. Waltz Metz trained as a nurse in Battle Creek, Michigan at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health resort run by John Harvey Kellogg (Yes, that breakfast cereal family). The Sanitarium, as described by Wikipedia “...combined aspects of a European spa, a hydrotherapy institution, a hospital, and a high-class hotel… Kellogg treated the rich and famous, as well as the poor who could not afford other hospitals…The Sanitarium, which was owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church was operated based on the church's health principles. Adventists believe in promoting a vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and a regimen of exercise.”

training manual for The Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Note the name written in the upper right corner

The Sanitarium in Battle Creek also offered a large nurse training program. Lois likely received her nursing training and hands-on experience at The Sanitarium in 1918. This was a life-changing year in this point of Lois’ 20 years. In the world, World War I continued. Closer to home, in the spring of 1918, Lois’ older brother, Olin, had enlisted and was serving in U.S. Medical Department, Recruit Camp No. 4 in Georgia. In July 1918, Lois wed Emin Leroy Metz, age 26. Shortly after their wedding, Emin shipped out to South Carolina to prepare to serve in World War I as a medic as well. Emin attended Illinois Holiness University, in Georgetown, Illinois, now known as Olivet Nazarene University, the same college Lois’ older brother Orin also attended. After Emin was called to serve, Lois went to Michigan. Tragically, Emin would become a victim of the Spanish Flu and passed in October 1918. Lois would accompany her Emin’s body back via train to be buried in the family plot in Indiana. 

I don’t know what Lois did between 1918 and 1921, if she continued to be a nurse. Lois’ nursing experience would take her to Pella, Iowa to visit a nurse friend, perhaps one she knew from Battle Creek Sanitarium. It was likely through this friend that she met widow James Vos and they married in 1921. 

After her sons grew and started their own families, Lois would work as a caretaker for the elderly, working and living in various homes in and around Oskaloosa. 

The Sanitarium stayed in business until the start of World War II.